At Safehouses, we understand that fostering can be demanding at times which is why we pay our foster carers a generous fostering allowance so they can focus on giving their foster child or children the best possible care.
Payments will vary depending on the age of the child, but you can expect to receive upwards of £413 per child, per week.
From £413 per week per child
From £438 per week per child
From £464 per week per child
From £852 per week per child
Parent and child placements are only referred to fostering families where all carers have attended a specialist training course.
The foster carer receives the payment each month and the payments are separated into two elements as set out by the government: –
Covers things such as gas, electric, clothes, pocket money etc. (things the child uses or needs). This part of the fee is not taxable.
Effectively ‘wages’ for the foster carer. This part of the fee is subject to tax.
A child is placed aged 14
Maintenance element is set at £200.00 per week (non-taxable)
Allowance element is set at £250.00 per week (taxable)
The Government have a special tax relief for all foster families. The first £18,140* you earn (after expenses) is 100% tax free. On top of this there is an extra tax relief on the £200 (for children under 11) and £250 (for children over 11) you earn per week.
*If you have used up your personal tax allowance from employment income or a pension, then you will need to pay tax on your fostering income that has gone over the calculated tax threshold. More information can be found here.
Safehouses recognises that from time to time the child or children of our foster carers may require respite ‘sleep-overs’ away from home. Unlike most other fostering agencies; Safehouses gives the foster carer the flexibility to ‘buy in respite’. This is done by paying the foster carer an extra two week’s pay spread over a 52 week period. As such the foster carer has the flexibility to ‘buy-in’ two weeks respite should this be deemed appropriate for the child or children in placement.
Safehouses is an independent provider, but we are also proud to be part of the Five Rivers Child Care family – a social enterprise committed to transforming the lives of children and young people. This partnership enables us to offer our foster carers access to a range of expertise and services that many smaller providers don’t have access to.
This might be in the form of additional therapeutic support for the children, specialist training for the foster carers or opportunities for children and young people to join in with special national events with other care experienced children.
Start your fostering career today, get in touch with us to find out how. We would love to hear from you.
