Fostering Allowance
Your hard work deserves recognition, so once you start caring for a child, we'll pay you a generous fostering allowance of £435 per week on average.
Providing a safe, secure family home is the most important gift you can give a child. That’s why fostering offers one of the most rewarding vocations. Not only will you be helping to turn a child’s life around and make a real difference, but you’ll also receive competitive fostering allowances and payments as a reward for all your hard work.
Don’t let finances be the barrier in providing children and young people a happy, nurturing home. Our generous foster care pay helps to eliminate your money worries, leaving you free to focus on the things that matter – those precious family moments with the children and young people in your care.
Important things to remember about foster care pay allowance:
- You become self-employed, entitling you to significant tax relief
- On average, you could be earning approximately £435 per child, per week
- You could still be entitled to other benefits
Additional fostering payments and rewards
At FCA, our foster parents go above and beyond for children and young people every day and we believe we should do the same for them. That’s why along with a generous fostering allowance of on average, £435 per week, our foster parents will also receive:
- A summer and winter £250 bonus payment each year
- Up to 14 nights paid respite
- A special gift or experience for each fostering milestone you hit
- Annual events to recognise and support your role as a carer
- An additional appreciation bonus each year which rises in line with length of service with us
Foster care pay examples
Maria
Fosters a 4-year old. She receives £411.18 per week.
Alex and Chris
Foster a 7-year old. They receive £421.19 per week.
Claudia
Fosters a 15-year-old. She receives £445.20 per week.
Ali and Simone
Foster two children, aged 5 and 8. They receive £842.38 per week.
Discover how fostering will affect your finances
Don’t let finances be the barrier to starting your fostering journey, discover our essential guide to allowances, tax, National Insurance and claiming benefits whilst fostering.
Loyalty bonuses and rewards
We don’t do things by halves. When you foster with FCA, you’ll be part of our Stars scheme, one of the most generous reward and loyalty schemes out there, designed to reward and recognise all the incredible work our foster parents do in changing the life of a child or young person in their care.
Our Stars scheme includes:
- Shine - our monthly Time to Shine Awards recognise the amazing contribution our foster parents make within our community, with monthly prizes and recognition to say thank you for all their hard work.
- Together - to celebrate your time as part of the FCA family, you’ll receive a gift or experience that’s personalised to you, with something you’ll really love for each fostering milestone you hit.
- Appreciation - every year, local events across the whole of the UK are organised to say thank you to all of our foster parents, which can include lunch or afternoon tea – and there is always lots of cake! We also recognise the birth children of foster parents who play such an important role within the fostering family.
- Reward - along with our summer and winter bonuses, you’ll also receive an additional appreciation bonus each year rising in line with the years of service with us.
- Savings – not forgetting access to our rewards platform with hundreds of discounts and offers at all your favourite high street retailers.
We invest more to improve the lives of children
We are more than simply the allowance we give to our foster parents. We ensure we invest back into the services we offer to ensure the very best experiences and outcomes for the young people in our care. Whether that be fun local events, career fairs and workshops, or our biggest event of all: ‘The Big Sing Off’ choir competition which involves all of the regions throughout FCA. Not forgetting our dedicated Participation team who actively engage with our children and young people to ensure their voices are heard and responded to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Curious about foster payments and understanding foster care allowances?
We've got you covered with some of the most frequently asked questions. But wait, there's more! If you're eager to delve deeper into allowances, tax, National Insurance, and claiming benefits while fostering, why not download our comprehensive guide? It's packed with valuable information to help you navigate the financial aspects of fostering. Get ready to boost your knowledge and make the most out of your fostering journey!
Tax and foster care allowance
To ensure foster parents are not unfairly taxed on their costs incurred through fostering, you could also be entitled to an income tax exemption up to a certain amount for your fostering.
You will be completing your own tax-return but when you foster with us, you'll get all the support you need and you’ll get the benefit of a free tax and accountancy helpline, and a discounted tax-return service to help you with your paperwork.
When you become a foster parent, you are classed as self-employed and entitled to significant tax relief. Many foster parents pay no tax at all, but if you have more than one child or another job alongside fostering, you may need to pay tax.
National Insurance Contribution and State Pension
Thanks to Qualifying Tax Relief, as a self-employed foster parent you’ll still be eligible to claim most state benefits. You will still be entitled to claim child benefits for your own children and other children that are dependent on you. Exclusions will just apply to the children that you are now fostering as you are already receiving the fostering allowance for each child or young person in your care.
As a foster parent you are entitled to claim means tested benefits as your fostering allowance isn’t classed as income when calculating these benefits. Means tested benefits are called non-contributory benefits these include:
- Carers Allowance (fostering income is disregarded)
- Income Support
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (income based)
- Housing and Council Tax Benefit
There are also some other non-contributory benefits that are not means-tested, which include;
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Personal Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Universal Credits and other forthcoming changes to the benefits system
Whether you’re eligible for benefits will depend on your personal circumstances. You’ll still be able to claim Child Tax Credit for your own children.
As a foster parent, you are eligible for National Insurance credits, which counts towards the basic and additional state pension. All you need to do is register for Class 2 National Insurance contributions. This would enable your entitlement to Basic State Pension, Bereavement Benefits, Maternity Allowance and contributory Employment and Support allowance.
Difference between private and council fostering pay
At FCA we work very closely with local authorities to find suitable carers for children and ensure each foster parent is placed with the right child according to their needs.
As one of the country’s largest and most experienced independent fostering agencies, our foster allowance is often significantly higher than those of local authorities. Not only do we offer more financial rewards, but we offer dedicated training programmes and 24/7 support every step of the way.
Multi-child allowances
Foster parents will receive a fostering allowance and fee per each child they foster. On average, our foster parents receive approximately £420 per child, per week. You will also receive additional tax relief for each foster child in your care.
The allowance per child depends on the following:
- The type of fostering
- The needs and challenges of each individual child
- The region in which you live
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
By Phone
Call a member of our friendly fostering team and they'll be able to answer all your questions