Future of foster care consultation

It is key that foster carers in Scotland are financially renumerated so that the costs of caring for a child are met.

While remunerated, foster carers are not employed by their fostering service, and are self-employed for tax purposes. The current financial support model is set out below. It has been suggested by stakeholders that there may be an argument for nationalisation or harmonisation of payments to assist recruitment and retention across Scotland.

• Scottish Recommended National Allowance - All foster carers receive a weekly fostering allowance which is calculated to cover the cost of caring for a looked after child, which it is acknowledged is greater than the costs of looking after a for child who has not got experience of care. This includes food, clothes, toiletries and other reasonable expenses, and it is not renumeration for the caregiver. The allowance received will depend on the age of each child. The Scottish Government committed to setting a Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship carers (SRA). The SRA was introduced in August 2023 and a review of the SRA is taking place. It will assess whether the policy intent, which was to bring transparency and consistency to allowances in Scotland, has been achieved in practice, what is working and what is not, and areas for improvement.
• Fees - Fees are separate and are paid in addition to allowances. They may be paid by fostering services to reflect the expertise and nature of the tasks undertaken by foster carers. There is variation in fees across Scotland.
• Additional payments - While the national allowance is designed to cover all the costs of caring for a looked after child, many fostering services decide to provide some additional payments to cover 'one off' expenses. It is for fostering services to determine what those might be, but common extra payments include a birthday and religious festival payment, start-up costs or other payments. There is variation in additional payments across Scotland.
• Retainer fees - When foster carers do not have any children placed with them, some, but not all, fostering services pay a retainer fee. The fee is usually for a time limited period and may not cover the whole duration they do not have a child or young person in their care. While a retainer fee is being paid, the fostering service would expect the foster carer to be available to receive a child into their home, to maintain availability of a bedroom, and to not take on additional work. There is variation in retainer fees across Scotland.
• Continuing Care allowances – some fostering services will continue to pay an allowance and fee to a foster carer when a young person remains in that placement after their 18^th birthday. There is variation in continuing care allowances across Scotland.

The legal requirements to publish information relating to carer allowances and fees are inconsistent. For example, local authorities are under a duty to publish (among other things) the rates for kinship carer allowances, but not the rates for foster care allowances. Similarly, IFAs are not required to publish their foster carer allowance rates.