Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Employment boost for thousands of parents on Universal Credit, published on 25 October 2023, if he will consider the potential merits of applying similar conditionality requirements for family and friend carers as foster carers.

Friends and family carers, also known as kinship carers, provide incredible care to children who cannot remain with their parents. The government recognises the difficult circumstances in which many kinship carers find themselves when they first take a child into their care. As such, for the first year they are only required to attend jobcentre appointments and are not required to search or prepare for work. This allows time for adjustments to the family’s life and for the children to settle in.

The policy for foster carers reflects their particular circumstances. Universal Credit does not provide claimants with financial support for any foster children in their care and only requires foster carers to attend regular appointments rather than look for work.

We have recently made changes to lead carer (including kinship carer) conditionality – an increased frequency of jobcentre appointments for lead carers of 1 and 2 year olds, and an increase to the maximum hours of work-related activity for lead carers of 3-12s. Alongside this, we have increased support with childcare. These changes in conditionality and childcare availability are designed to provide support to lead carers of children, including kinship carers, to help them move into work or grow their earnings and provide the children in their care with the best possible start in life. We believe that this strikes the right balance.