By phone or email
To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
APPG’s Activities and Latest News
July 2025
Spotlight on SEND and Kinship Care
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – whether living with their parents, with family and friends, or in the care system – are being let down by a system in crisis. Despite increased funding, outcomes remain poor, and families often face costly legal battles to secure support. Kinship families, who are more likely to care for children with additional needs, face unique challenges that are still not well understood.
As the Government prepares its upcoming white paper on SEND reform, the APPG is working to ensure kinship families’ voices are heard. This month we held the first of two spotlight sessions hearing the perspectives and experiences of three kinship carers from different parts of England.As the Government prepares its upcoming white paper on SEND reform, the APPG is working to ensure kinship families’ voices are heard. This month we held the first of two spotlight sessions hearing the perspectives and experiences of three kinship carers from different parts of England.
In September, a second APPG spotlight session will hear from organisations working with kinship families with special educational needs and disabilities.
The APPG session also included updates on the:
- Kinship Financial Allowance Pilot: The APPG discussed the scope of the pilot and improving financial support for kinship families living outside of pilot areas. The APPG agreed to write to the Children’s Minister with further questions – read the letter.
- Parental Leave and Pay Review: the APPG agreed to response to the Call for Evidence.
- Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF): The APPG agreed to write to the Children’s Minister to seek clarity on several aspects including the Government’s plans for the future of the Fund – read the letter.
Read more:
A blog from Family Rights Group about the session
Parental Leave and Pay Review
On 1st July, the Government announced the Parental Leave and Pay Review. The review will consider how the parental leave and pay system could be improved to better support working families and meet the needs of the modern economy. Our APPG strongly welcomes the inclusion of kinship families in the Review’s remit.
Read more:
June 2025
Kinship Allowance Financial Pilot
In June, the Government opened applications for local authorities to be involved in the Kinship Financial Allowances Pilot. Under the scheme, eligible kinship carers in up to ten local authorities will receive a weekly, non-means tested financial allowance which will be paid at a rate equivalent to the national minimum fostering allowance. The allowance will apply to children who are either under a special guardianship order and child arrangements order, or where that is the trajectory.
Read more:
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
This major piece of legislation has continued its journey through Committee Stage in the House of Lords.
Peers, including members of the APPG, tabled 13 amendments in relation to kinship care, including on educational support, financial support, employment leave, and legal support.
We draw particular attention to amendments tabled by APPG Member Lord Hampton, himself a kinship carer, which sought to strengthen the requirements under the kinship local offer. This included how local authorities work with families to develop the offer, and the inclusion of information on how families can access legal support.
Read more
May 2025
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
APPG Members spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on support for children in adopted and kinship arrangements, with a particular focus on raising concerns about changes to the Fund.
New data secured by the APPG showed that almost half of applications (46%) to the Fund last year were above the new £3000 Fair Access Limit. This demonstrates the potential scale of the impact on affected families.
Read more
April 2025
On 1st April, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care welcomed the £50 million extension to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund for 2025-26, announced by Minister Daby in response to an urgent question from APPG Vice Chair Munira Wilson MP.
The APPG’s statement:
“The All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care has heard from kinship carers across the country about the critical difference that therapeutic support makes to the children they are raising.
“We urged the Government to confirm funding for 2025-26, and whilst the £50 million announced today is very welcome the uncertainty has left families in limbo.
“The Minister was unclear on whether further children in kinship care could become eligible for this support. Our Group, alongside families and the sector, has been calling for this to ensure all children in kinship care who need this are able to access it.
“We are encouraged by the extension but will scrutinise the details including any expansion when they are available.”
However, the Government has since announced a number of changes to the criteria for the fund until the end of March 2026:
- The Fair Access Limit (FAL) will now be £3,000, previously £5,000.
- Specialist assessments will no longer be funded separate to the FAL
- There will no longer be match funding applications for therapy which costs more than the £3,000 FAL, or for specialist assessments which cost more than £2,500.
They have also announced that until Spending Review decisions are made, they will only consider applications where the therapy or specialist assessment will be fully completed before the end of March 2026.
The Government say they changes are ‘in order to maximise the number of children who are able to access this fund’.
The APPG is seeking an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State. APPG Members are also working to secure a parliamentary debate on the issue.
APPG Members also raised the issue at Education Questions on 28th April.
March 2025
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
The ambiguity around funding beyond March for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund is leaving families in limbo. The APPG’s officers write to Minister Daby about ensuring children in kinship care can access essential therapeutic support.
Read the letter here. The Minister’s response can be read here.
APPG Meeting
The APPG met on 19th March to discuss the urgent need for clarity on the Adoption & Special Guardianship Support Fund with funding yet to be confirmed beyond the end of the financial year. Clare Walsh, a kinship carer to her sister’s two children, shared her experience and concerns from families like hers about the uncertainty.
The APPG also considered next steps on the kinship local offer, including MPs contacting their local authority, and the APPG’s workplan around special educational needs and disabilities.
A copy of the Minutes can be read here.
Subsequently, Tessa Munt MP urgently raised the issue at Business Questions. Over in the House of Lords, APPG Member Lord Hannay also raised the future of the Fund with Minister Jacqui Smith.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, APPG Vice Chair Munira Wilson MP raised with Keir Starmer the imminent cliff edge in funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Employment support
The APPG wrote to the Chief Executive of Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), Ian Todd, about providing kinship care employment leave for MPs’ staff. There are an estimated 3,500 staff working for MPs on IPSA contracts as personal office staff. Parliament has an opportunity to lead by example, joining the Department for Education and other major employers, in providing a kinship care leave option for staff who require it.
Read the letter here.
January 2025
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill received Second Reading in Parliament and began scrutiny in Bill Committee. Its provisions include:
- a new mandate on local authorities to offer families the opportunity to come up with solutions for their children’s welfare, to avert children entering the care system.
- a new legal duty on councils to publish a local kinship offer for families and for kinship care to be defined in primary legislation.
- extending the statutory responsibilities of the Virtual School Head role to champion the education of children, including children in kinship care.
APPG Members spoke in the Second Reading debate on 8th January. Group Members were also represented on the Bill Committee, and several amendments were tabled to strengthen the kinship care provisions.
Family Rights Group, the Group’s secretariat, held a briefing for parliamentarians about the Bill on 22nd January.
December 2024
Meeting the National Kinship Care Ambassador
Our Group met with the recently appointed National Kinship Care Ambassador, Jahnine Davis, to discuss her role and priorities.
Jahnine set out four key priorities:
- an emphasis on the voices and experiences of children
- determining what a good local offer for kinship families looks like
- exploring the silences and gaps – including informal arrangements and the experiences of Black and minority ethnic communities
- cross government understanding of kinship care
Read the minutes of the meeting here
Employment Rights Bill
The Group also heard from Munira Wilson MP (APPG Vice Chair and Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Education, Children and Young People) and colleague and APPG member Steve Darling MP, who have tabled amendments to the Employment Rights Bill to introduce paid employment leave for kinship carers. The Bill is currently in Committee stage in the Commons. See the amendments
New Research
Family Rights Group shared new research on the experiences of kinship families in employment, and new cost benefit analysis commissioned from Alma Economics which demonstrates the economic benefits of introducing a right to paid employment leave for kinship carers. Read more
Financial support for kinship carers
The APPG wrote to the Children’s Minister, Janet Daby MP, about financial support for kinship families. The letter asks questions about the construction of the kinship financial allowances pilot announced in the Budget, as well as inequalities in provision of financial support to special guardians. Read the letter. Read the Minister’s reply
November 2024
First debate of the new Parliament
November saw the first debate on kinship care of the new Parliament, led by Alistair Strathern MP. It was fantastic to see the strength of cross party support for kinship care. Over 20 MPs attended to support and advocate for better practical, emotional and financial support for children and families. With Children’s Minister Janet Daby MP in the chamber to hear the arguments and respond on behalf of the Government. Kinship carers watched from the gallery and spent time sharing their experience with MPs, alongside sector organisations Family Rights Group and Kinship.
Children’s Social Care Policy Paper
The Government also published a new children’s social care policy paper, setting out its approach to reform. It includes:
- The key principles that wherever possible, children should remain with their families and be safely prevented from entering the care system in the first place. Moreover, where children cannot remain at home and it is in their best interests, children should be supported to live with kinship carers or in fostering
Our funding means we can currently only help 4 in 10 people
Your donation will help more families access expert legal advice and support from Family Rights Group.
Donate Now