At Foster Careline, we recognise that looking after a child or young person has financial implications. Some of our carers choose to give up their jobs to foster, or adapt their working patterns to be available to care for their foster families. To support our carers, we provide a weekly fostering allowance made up of a professional fee and also a living allowance for the child.
You will be paid a weekly amount for each child that you care for which varies depending upon the needs of each child. We pay our foster carers upwards of £428.74 per week, per child, and an additional allowance for foster carers who have more than one child in their care.
£418 per week, per child
All our foster carers can receive 14 days holiday pay per child, per year.
Being a Foster Carer is recognised by the HMRC as self-employment. This status comes with its own generous tax benefits that can really make a difference to foster carers. Most carers find that they pay little or no tax. You will find more information about fostering on the HMRC website here.
The examples below will give you an idea of how this works and the typical amounts available. The threshold for the Foster Carer Tax Scheme (which applies to the vast majority of carers) is £10,000 per year.
Amy is a foster carer looking after three children aged 6yrs, 11yrs, and 14yrs for the entire tax year. Her qualifying amount is calculated by adding together the fixed amount of £10,000 plus a weekly amount of £200 plus £250 plus £250 respectively. This gives her a tax threshold of £49,000.
*For illustrative purposes only, based on a 52 week placement.
Foster Careline is an independent provider, but we are also proud to be part of the Five Rivers Child Care family – a social enterprise committed to transforming the lives of children and young people. This partnership enables us to offer our foster carers access to a range of expertise and services that many smaller providers don’t have access to.
This might be in the form of additional therapeutic support for the children, specialist training for the foster carers or opportunities for children and young people to take part in special national events with other care experienced children.
If you would like to find out more about the skills and qualities we’re looking for in a foster carer, we would love to hear from you.
