Payment & benefits

Foster Carer Pay

At Foster Careline, we recognise that looking after a child or young person has financial implications. Some of our carers choose to give up their jobs to foster, or adapt their working patterns to be available to care for their foster families. To support our carers, we provide a weekly fostering allowance made up of a professional fee and also a living allowance for the child.

For almost all Foster Carers, pay is tax-free and will not affect any benefits you may currently be receiving.

• Standard allowance for one child up to £460.00 – please note that this amount depends on the child’s age and whether you are also caring for their siblings.
• Parent and child – £95 per week (one parent, one child), £1,117.70 per week (two parents, one child).

Payments are adjusted to meet their needs if a child is recognised as having additional requirements.

Additionally, you will receive:

• Paid breaks: Benefit from 14 days of paid break annually.
• Refer a friend payment: Earn £2,000 for recruiting new carers (£1,000 for Respite Carers).
• Birthday Allowance: £200 per child will be paid to you to support in celebrating their birthday.
• Festival Allowance: £200 per child per year to support with celebrating festivals such as Christmas.
• Generous Mileage Allowances.

Other benefits include:

• Foster Carer Training and Support
• Support for Children
• Support for Birth Children
• Extended Support for Care Leavers

Foster Careline 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 take part in special national events with other care experienced children.