We pay a generous allowance of up to £496 per week, per child, depending on their level of need.
Allowances are paid weekly, directly into your bank and cover all expenses of caring for a child and the time you spend looking after them.
Standard payments and allowances
A standard weekly allowance of £216.79 is payable to all foster carers.
A reward of £59.08 per week is paid if a carer attends six training events per year and a further £59.08 per week is paid if a carer attends six support group sessions per year. These payments will be paid following approval and will be reviewed annually.
These payments equate to a total of £334.95 per week or £17,417 annually.
Enhanced payments and allowances
For carers looking after a child with enhanced needs, an additional enhanced weekly allowance of £91.63 is paid.
These payments equate to a total of £426 per week or £22,182 annually.
Enhanced plus payments and allowances
Those carers looking after the most traumatised children will receive an additional enhanced plus allowance of £70.00 per week.
These payments equate to a total of £496 per week or £26,121 annually.
Other allowances
In addition to the payments and allowances above, allowances are paid for birthdays and festivals (varying amounts depending on the child’s age), as well as an amount of £426 each year for holidays.
We also pay mileage for transporting a child to school and for attending family contact meetings and training and support groups.
These are not the only payments and allowances paid to foster carers. For full details of all payments and allowances and the circumstances in which they may be paid please see our fostering allowances guide.
Paying tax
We recommend that you take advice from your local tax office about your employment status and tax position when becoming a foster carer.
Fostering payments are free from Income Tax if they do not exceed your qualifying amount.
A specific tax scheme for foster carers called qualifying care relief means that payments are often below tax thresholds resulting in no tax needing to be paid on them.
Find out more about the qualifying care relief scheme and how to use it.
You can use the HMRC self-employment ready reckoner to budget for your Self Assessment tax bill for the year. There is also a range of record keeping apps that you may find useful.
The Fostering Network provides a useful guide about tax and National Insurance.
