New data reveals £38,000 difference in payments to fostering families across the UK

New data has revealed a major postcode lottery for fostering families, with some foster carers receiving £38,000 a year more than others, according to the UK’s leading fostering charity.

A new report ‘Out of Pocket: Fairer Fees for Foster Carers’, published today by The Fostering Network, reveals too many fostering services are providing inadequate fee payments to their foster carers. Some foster carers are receiving £732 more per week than others, a difference of £38,000 per year.

Almost half of fostering services are providing between £100- £200 per week, which for most fostering families is an annual income of £5,200 – £10,400 per year.

The Fostering Network is now calling for each government in the UK to carry out comprehensive reviews of foster carer fees to investigate and address the discrepancies across the UK.

Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at The Fostering Network, said: “It is unacceptable that there are such huge differences in fees paid to foster carers across the country, with some receiving no fee and many as little as £18 a week.

“Adequate fees are essential to ensure foster carers can continue looking after the children and young people in their care. If they are not sufficiently renumerated, we will continue to lose foster carers and struggle to recruit new ones.

“Foster carers are needed now more than ever – so we urgently need governments to invest in and develop a strong fee framework to send out the message to foster carers that they are recognised, respected and valued for the care they provide to children and young people.”

Foster carers are currently renumerated in different ways. All foster carers receive a weekly fostering allowance, which is intended to cover all costs related to child directly, such as clothes, food, and hobbies. Fees should be paid in addition to the child’s allowance to recognise a foster carer’s time and commitment to the role.

Many foster carers give up work to foster – around 60 per cent of foster carers do not work in England, Scotland and Wales, while 45 per cent don’t work in Northern Ireland, so fees are their only income.

While supporting children is more important to foster carers then the financial reward they receive, the current state of foster carer fees is not fit for purpose. Many foster carers are not being given enough money to support the cost of living while supporting a child in foster care.

There is currently no national guidance for foster carer fees in any nation of the UK, however national minimum allowances (NMA) are set by each government for allowances. Our State of the Nations’ Foster Care survey 2024 found that most foster carers and fostering services want a national fees framework, similar to the NMA.