Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available for kinship carers in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

We are committed to providing the necessary support for kinship carers in all areas of England, including Fylde and Lancashire.

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. In October 2024, we published the new kinship care statutory guidance for local authorities, which sets out the support and services local authorities should provide to kinship families, including reaffirming the requirement to publish their local offer of support in a clear, accessible way.

In October 2024 the government also announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance in some local authorities in England, to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. Details of this announcement are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-protects-education-priorities-in-face-of-inherited-22-billion-blackhole.

This is the single biggest investment made by the government in kinship care to date. We will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.

In addition, the National Kinship Care Ambassador advocates for kinship children, their carers, and their families across government. They work alongside all local authorities to help them improve their kinship practice and local policies, and ensure they are following national guidance.