Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the report by Kinship entitled Forgotten: Support for kinship children’s education and mental health, published August 2024.

The government is determined to give every child the opportunities they deserve. It knows that many children in kinship care need extra support, including in school. The department is working to ensure their needs are met, and that they have the best possible opportunity to succeed.

Children in kinship care can currently access pupil premium funding if they have been entitled to free school meals within the last six years and can receive pupil premium plus funding if they have left local authority care through a Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order. Children cared for under one of these orders are also eligible for school admissions through the Fair Access Protocol.

From September 2024, the role of Virtual School Heads has been expanded to include championing the education, attendance and attainment of children in kinship care, ensuring that more children in kinship care receive the help they need to thrive at school.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, helps adoptive and Special Guardianship Order children, and their families, access therapeutic interventions related to trauma and attachment. Since the fund was established in 2015, it has provided over £400 million in funding to support more than 50,000 children.

This government is considering how to most effectively transform the children’s social care system to deliver better outcomes for children and families, including how best to support kinship children and families.