Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the number of kinship carers who will not be eligible for the new Kinship Allowance Pilot.

There is a duty on children’s services to arrange special guardianship support services in the local areas. Under section 14F of the Children Act 1989, “each local authority must make arrangements for the provision within their area of special guardianship support services, which includes financial support.”

The department is going further to increase the level of support offered to kinship carers through the trial of a new kinship allowance to support with the costs of raising a child.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced £40 million to pilot a new Kinship Allowance in some local authorities in England, to support up to 5,000 eligible children in kinship care.

As this is a pilot scheme, the allowance will not be universal at this stage. It is important that robust evidence underpins any future national rollout to ensure the best outcomes for children and families and value for money for the taxpayer.