Kinship Carers: Statutory Paid Employment Leave

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of statutory paid employment leave for kinship carers.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I am really pleased to have secured this debate, and I am grateful to the colleagues who have come to participate in it. Statutory paid employment leave for kinship carers is an important and pressing matter, not only to those in the Chamber but to thousands of households, and it goes to the heart of the Government’s aim to support families and ensure that no child is left behind.

When a child can no longer live with their parents, it is often grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings or close family friends who step forward to offer them a loving home. Across the UK, more than 150,000 children are growing up in kinship care, and many have experienced trauma, loss or significant upheaval. At precisely the moment they need stability and reassurance, the people offering them that security can find themselves facing an impossible choice between caring for a child they love and keeping their job. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on kinship care, I have heard numerous accounts from young people and carers of just how much of a difference a family safety net can make to a child’s life outcomes.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

In Northern Ireland, a record 4,287 children are in the care system. Some 83% of those are in foster care, and a large proportion are placed in kinship arrangements. Because there is no statutory paid leave, nearly 30% of local kinship carers have been forced to give up their jobs entirely, pushing families into financial hardship. Does the hon. Lady agree that we should be pressing the Minister to introduce a statutory right to paid leave for every kinship carer across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

[Melanie Onn]

The hon. Member makes an incredibly important point on behalf of his constituents. Over 40% of those foster care placements are kinship arrangements. That is a significant number of families, and they should not be forced to decide between continuing to work or looking after a child. The decision is not a difficult one—their decision will always be to look after a child who comes to them in traumatic circumstances. We should not rely on kinship carers taking unpaid leave, which can put in jeopardy their career, their household finances and the security with which the child moves into their home. I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point.