Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of paragraph 9.38 of the Statutory Guidance on Adoption in providing support to adoptive parents who are ineligible to receive Statutory Adoption Pay as a result of low earnings, length of service or being self-employed.

The government recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that an adopter takes time off work to care for and bond with their child. To date, the government has focused on supporting employed parents, as they do not generally have the same level of flexibility and autonomy over how and when they work as self-employed parents do.

Self-employed adoptive parents may be supported in a range of ways by local authorities, and it is not possible to make a ready comparison between these arrangements and statutory adoption pay provisions. Maternity payments, such as the maternity allowance, are not intended to assist with the costs associated with a new child.

The department’s statutory guidance covering financial support applies to all local authorities in England, and this does not vary by geographical region. We continually keep under review the need to revise guidance, including the statutory guidance on adoption. No specific information has been collected about the extent to which local authorities provide support as specified in paragraph 9.38 of the guidance. However, we have regular conversations with both local authority leaders and with leaders of regional adoption agencies about a wide range of adoption-related issues.

The department supports a range of activities to encourage the recruitment of prospective adopters, including £2 million to date towards a national recruitment campaign. The campaign messages continue to make abundantly clear that adopters are welcome from all walks of life and backgrounds. There are now significantly more prospective adopters than children waiting to be adopted. No specific assessment has been made of the potential merits and effectiveness of the statutory guidance and other support arrangements.