Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the economic impact on kinship carers arising from (a) reduced employment rights compared with biological parents, (b) variations in local kinship care offers and (c) reducing access to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

The government has launched a review of the parental leave system, which will consider whether the current support available meets the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, including kinship carers.

We are legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to mandate local authorities to publish a local offer for children and families in kinship care arrangements. This will help kinship families better understand what support may be available to them locally. However, the content of the local offer is decided by the local authority, based on their assessment local needs, and therefore the content of local offers may vary significantly between areas.

Eligibility for access to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) is unchanged, and the revised criteria for the ASGSF will enable as many children and families as possible to access funding.