The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS) welcomes the announcement that kinship and foster carers across Scotland will receive a standard national allowance to support them in caring for the children and young people they look after.

Funded by £16m from the Scottish Government, the new Scottish Recommended Allowance means that every eligible kinship and foster carer will receive at least the standard, national allowance, no matter where they live.

Following agreement with COSLA, this marks the first time a set rate, which all local authorities must pay, has been introduced across Scotland. The Scottish Government says 9,000 young people will benefit from the changes.

Fiona Aitken from Adoption UK Scotland, partner hosts of KCASS, says: “Reaching this agreement has been a long process and KCASS thanks all of those involved in setting this highly anticipated national allowance. We welcome this announcement which will benefit kinship families who qualify for Kinship Care Allowance paid by their local authority. KCASS understands that no family will be worse off as a result of these changes and welcomes this commitment.

“Kinship carers across Scotland play a crucial role in caring for their families, and the provision of an equal national allowance should ensure that they receive the support they need to do this.  We look forward to seeing the impact of this on our community of carers.”

Delivery partners the Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption (AFKA) Scotland are also delighted to see the introduction of this national allowance. Executive director Angie Gillies says: “AFKA Scotland is delighted that today fostering and kinship families across Scotland will benefit from a national allowance. Together with Practitioners in Kinship and Foster Care and our jointly hosted service, KCASS, we welcome a national and consistent approach to supporting families and in #keepingthepromise to Scotland’s children and young people.”

Kinship carers on our advisory group have expressed how important they see this announcement as being.  One carer expressed that they felt it was “great news and definitely a start. It shows our voices are being listened to now. Just got to keep doing the great work we are all doing.”

Another member said: “It’s good that there will now be parity within all local authorities.”

KCASS will continue to work with the Scottish Government to improve support for kinship families, and we will follow the rollout of the new standardised allowance to ensure carers get the support to which they are entitled.

If you have any questions about the new allowance, please contact your local authority in the first instance. Our helpline advisors can also issue guidance about the allowance – call them on 0800 800 0006 or email advice@kinshipscot.org

Read the Scottish Government’s news release about the new allowance