Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to improve consistency, fairness and transparency in the provision of special guardianship allowances concurrently with the Kinship Allowance Pilot.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether welfare benefits or tax credits, including disability benefits that a kinship carer receives for themselves or the child, will be impacted if they receive financial support through the Kinship Allowance Pilot.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Chapter Two of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005, and the provisions of the Special Guardianship statutory guidance, will apply to local authorities participating in the Kinship Allowance Pilot; and, if so how.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the financial support paid under the Kinship Allowance Pilot will be means tested.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the Kinship Allowance Pilot Scheme; and when that scheme will begin.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is ensuring that a fair and transparent process is used to identify which local authorities are best placed to deliver the Kinship Allowance Pilot, through a published expression of interest process. The application window for the expression of interest has now closed.
The department has communicated clear guidance on this process to local authorities through webinars, published expression of interest guidance and a two-week clarification window, following the launch of the expression of interest application window.
The Pilot will launch this autumn, following the announcement of successful pilot local authorities in September.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support (a) foster carers, (b) kinship carers and (c) adoptive parents.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Transformation Fund, announced in the spring, builds on the £15 million investment for foster care in the Budget. The department will provide an additional £25 million over two years, beginning in the 2026/27 financial year.
Foster carers receive the national minimum allowance to cover the costs of looking after children in their care, uplifted each year in line with inflation and earnings. Our investment includes the rollout of the Mockingbird Family model, which offers peer support to foster carers and children. We also continue to fund Fosterline, a free helpline for current and prospective foster carers.
To support kinship carers, the government announced £40 million to pilot the Kinship Allowance in some local authorities, supporting eligible kinship carers with the additional costs of taking parental responsibility for a kinship child. The pilot will launch in late autumn and support approximately 5,000 kinship children until March 2029. In addition, the department funds training and peer support groups for kinship carers.
In April, the department announced £8.8 million for Adoption England to improve adoption services and support regional adoption agencies to respond more effectively to adoptive families in crisis. The £50 million adoption and special guardianship support fund will continue to enable families to access a significant package of therapeutic support.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what is the eligibility criteria for local authorities to qualify to be a pilot area for a financial allowance for kinship carers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All local authorities are eligible to apply for the Kinship Allowance Pilot, except for those which have received a section 114 notice and/or already offer a regular financial allowance that matches the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) to kinship carers with legal orders.
Local authorities remain eligible to apply if they pay a financial allowance that matches the NMA, but one of the following applies:
Local authorities will be ineligible to apply for the kinship allowance pilot if all the following conditions are met:
Further information can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-to-become-a-kinship-allowance-pilot-provider.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the post- (a) 16 and (b) 18 support for young people raised in kinship.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring more children are supported in a strong kinship care arrangement, avoiding care where possible, because we know that this leads to better outcomes.
We are legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require local authorities to publish a local offer for children and families in kinship arrangements and requiring local authorities to offer family group decision making to families with children on the edge of care. These measures will ensure more children are supported within their family networks, and with kinship carers instead of entering care.
Some children in kinship care, such as those placed with kinship foster carers, are entitled to leaving care support if they have been in care for a minimum of 13 weeks, some of which was after they reached age 16, when they cease to be looked after. This includes support from a Personal Adviser up to the age of 25, and support to engage in education, employment or training, including a £2,000 bursary if they attend higher education.
This support will also include providing continuity of support and relationships when care leavers reach age 18 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme and investing in family-finding, mentoring and befriending programmes.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential (a) implications for her policies of the (i) financial and (ii) housing pressures experienced by kinship carers and (b) impact of those pressures on the sustainability of Special Guardianship placements.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the significant financial, and wider, pressures faced by kinship carers and their impact on the sustainability of special guardianship placements.
That is why the government announced £40 million investment in a Kinship Allowance Pilot, which will test the impact of providing an allowance to kinship carers. The Expression of Interest for this pilot launched on 17 June 2025 and more information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-to-become-a-kinship-allowance-pilot-provider. The programme is expected to begin in autumn 2025 and will support approximately 5,000 kinship children.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are enshrining the first definition of kinship care in law and mandating local authorities to publish their kinship local offer, increasing their accountability for ensuring all kinship families are getting the information they need about the support available to them.
The department also funds the charity ‘Kinship’ to provide over 140 peer support groups and a free training package for kinship carers across England.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of local authority compliance with the requirement to provide support plans to kinship carers under Special Guardianship Orders.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There is a general duty on local authorities to arrange for the provision of special guardianship support services in their local areas.
Children who were previously looked after by a local authority, and their special guardians, have an automatic right to an assessment for special guardianship support services from the local authority that last looked after the child. Other special guardians may request an assessment, but it is at the discretion of the local authority whether to carry one out.
Ofsted has a crucial role to play in upholding children’s social care standards, including the support services provided by local authorities to families and children who have special guardianship orders in place. They provide independent, up to date evaluations on the quality of support, safeguarding, and leadership, making sure children are safe and supported.
In May 2025, the Law Commission began a project to consider the scope for reform to simplify and streamline the orders underpinning kinship care placements and how to better support the consideration of kinship care as an option for children who cannot remain with their parents. It will consider the adequacy and consistency of the legal orders underpinning kinship care placements, including whether the current legislation meets the needs of children and kinship carers.