Benefits kinship foster carer with disabled grandson

[GRE2E]

Hello
I am currently being assessed as a kinship foster carer for my 9 year old grandson, who is a looked after child I am after a bit of advice as my LA have said they will pay me a band 1 foster care allowance for looking after him and to care for him totalling to £190 per week. I understand all areas are different am I entitled to any enhanced payments due to his disabilities, I have read I should be on an equivalent level as any other foster carer

Many thanks

[Robin D]

Hi @GRE2E and welcome to the forum.

Some local authorities publish the fostering allowances on their web-site so its worth doing a good search there. That should show all the additional payments, if any, and give an indication of the conditions under which they might be paid. Whenever we fostered (for 6 different authorities), we were always given a sheet with the allowances on, the 'contract' between us and the authority, and updates were then sent to us every year as they were reviewed. I suggest you ask the assessing social worker for a copy of the current allowances, along with details of any support available to foster parents (foster parent groups etc).

Equally we took on two seperate disabled children plus others on respite care. We always received additional allowances to meet their additional needs. One until the child returned home the second until we were advised to apply for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from the DWP that was awarded at the higher rate. At that point the additional foster allowance stopped. DLA is still paid for children, but they get moved to PIP when they reach 18. Do discuss that as an option with the social worker.

@Suzie may come along with some better ideas.

Good luck ... Robin

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello
I am currently being assessed as a kinship foster carer for my 9 year old grandson, who is a looked after child I am after a bit of advice as my LA have said they will pay me a band 1 foster care allowance for looking after him and to care for him totalling to £190 per week. I understand all areas are different am I entitled to any enhanced payments due to his disabilities, I have read I should be on an equivalent level as any other foster carer

Many thanks

Dear GRE2E,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the kinship carers’ forum.

My name is Suzie and I will be replying to your enquiry today. I see you have already had a helpful response from another forum member.

You write that you are being assessed as a kinship foster carer for your 9-year-old grandson who is a looked after child. As a kinship foster carer you should be paid at least the national minimum fostering allowance rate. The amount varies according to age of the child and the part of the England you live in.

Family Rights Group have a template letter you can use to request that you are paid at the national minimum rate and that the payments are backdated to the time when your grandson first came to live with you. You can link to the template letter here. Letter 6 is the one to look at; it details relevant laws, statutory guidance, court rulings and local government ombudsman decisions that will help you make your argument to children’s services if necessary.

Fostering Network have a useful page on fostering allowances and rates here which you can use to check on the amount being offered by the local authority. You should also request a full breakdown of the proposed allowance be given to you so that you can review this with your support social worker. As your grandson has disabilities you may be eligible for additional funding as part of your fostering package, and the decision on this and the reasons for it should be made clear to you by children’s services.

You can find the Family Rights Group pages for kinship carers here.
An advice sheet on becoming a kinship foster carer may also be useful here.
Information on welfare benefits for kinship carers is here.

Turn2Us (contact details here )are an organisation that helps people find out about their benefit and grant entitlements. They can provide up to date information about benefits for children with disabilities. It may be useful for you to contact them via their online forums or helpline shown in the link above.

I hope this information was useful to you. Please feel free to come back to us for further support by posting again or contacting us in one of the other ways shown below.

• A free telephone advice line open Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays) on 0808 801 0366
• Easy-to-follow online information. Features include an A-Z, FAQs, films, ‘top tips’ and legal advice sheets;
• A webchat service where you can message an adviser online, who will help you find information and advice to support you.
• A web enquiry form – to help you submit an email and receive a reply within five working days.

Best wishes,
Suzie