Support, Fees and Benefits

The amount we pay you varies depending on the age of the child. Over two thirds of children placed with us are 11 or over and for this age group we pay you £452.15 per week which is £23,511.60 per year. 

Unlike some agencies we don’t reduce our payment to you per child for any additional children in placement. More than 60% of our carers have more than one placement and if two children aged 12 and 14 were placed with you the payment would increase to £47,023.20 each year.

We pay Foster Carers every 2 weeks by bank transfer. As Foster Carers are treated as being self-employed no tax is deducted from the payment. 

Where a child has been assessed as having additional difficulties a higher rate of payment is made. Sometimes there will be a particularly large amount of driving required and in these cases you will be able to claim mileage at 45p per mile. We organise an annual holiday and a program of activities throughout the year which we pay for in addition to your Carer Fees.

You need to cover the costs of food, clothing, transport and activities out of payments made to you for children in placement, but most of all you will be providing support and care in your home to a young person at a vulnerable time in their lives.

You can apply for each year that you foster as a qualifying year for your State Pension which will help increase the amount of pension you receive, up to the maximum possible.

Foster Carers are self-employed for Tax purposes and you are able to claim special tax allowances to reduce the taxable amount of the income paid to you. If you have no other taxable income there is normally no tax to pay if you have either 1 or 2 children placed with you and you receive the basic level of payment stated above.

Don’t worry if this seems a bit daunting as we have a special arrangement with a firm of accountants who will complete your tax return and help you with tax for a specially discounted rate.

Foster Carers are treated as working for benefit purposes which means you will be eligible to claim benefits such as Working Tax Credit. For some means tested benefits your income from Fostering is ignored whilst for others it’s your taxable income that is used and due to large tax exemptions you receive as a Foster Carer the majority of your income is non-taxable.