Kinship Carers who take on the care of a child, where their parents are unable to care for the child, and who are in employment, are often impacted negatively within their work environment.

Kinship Carers will take on the care of a child often at short notice without planning and can then find themselves having to take unpaid leave from their employment, where this is available, or to leave their employment to care for the child due to a lack of support. They will often reduce their working week to provide the necessary support for a traumatised child, again where this option is available to them. The family’s financial situation is negatively impacted, with the additional costs of providing for a child with less income the situation can quickly become dire for the family.

Taking on the care of a child unexpectedly impacts Kinship Carers’ ability to work and, much like parents or adopters, they would benefit from additional support and flexibility from their employers helping them in balancing work while providing love and security for the children in their care.

What support is available?

Unlike birth or adoptive parents, there is currently no statutory leave facility for Kinship Carers. With little or no access to childcare, Kinship Carers are left depending on the good will of employers, who in turn can find their hands are tied due to a lack of internal employment policies supporting Kinship Carers.

With the launch of the Kinship strategy in England, guidance has been provided for employers in England to ensure they meet the needs of their employees who happen to be Kinship Carers Kinship carers in the workplace (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Our counterparts in England, Kinship, have introduced a Kinship Friendly Employer scheme which has been set up to provide a free framework and toolkit to help any employer introduce Kinship friendly policies: Employers – support colleagues to care for the children they love (kinship.org.uk)

What about Scotland?

In Scotland, changes to employment law are made by central government.  Like our counterparts in England, we want to see changes in legislation which would recognise that all employers introduce Kinship friendly policies, helping Kinship Carers to remain in employment where this is their preferred choice. The Scottish Government’s Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise, Natalie Don, has written to the UK Government calling for statutory parental leave rights to be extended to Kinship Carers Family leave for kinship carers: letter to UK Government – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

At KCASS we are fortunate to have an advisory group of Kinship Carers who help to steer and guide our organisation to ensure we continue to meet the needs of all Kinship families. At our inaugural meeting we considered the challenges which members had experienced when caring for their Kinship child.  One of the first issue raised was the significant challenge of being forced to give up work in order to care for a traumatised child. We then discussed the impact this had on the financial situation of the family. The group are working to influence change and agreed a shared goal for “all Kinship Carers to receive support from their employers, particularly when first becoming a Kinship Carer, similar to time off given to adoptive parents or foster carers. Flexible working should also be made available where required”.

Are there any Kinship friendly employers?

One of our members, Alanna Duncan, has been instrumental in highlighting the changes required to be implemented by her employer to ensure the needs of Kinship Carers are reflected in the company’s leave policies. As a direct result of Alanna’s work and determination, her employer has introduced Kinship friendly entitlements including 20 weeks paid leave for Kinship Carers when they initially take on the care of a child matching entitlements of birth parents and adoptive parents.

We are aware of other employers who have recognised the benefit of better supporting and retaining their staff with kinship caring responsibilities. The guidance document released in England states that by introducing Kinship friendly policies organisations will benefit from “attracting more talent, improving staff motivation, reducing staff turnover and boosting productivity and competitiveness. Making changes to policy to reflect the needs of Kinship Carers benefits both the Kinship Carer and the organisation”.

KCASS contacted several employers who are Kinship friendly to understand the impact of these policies in practice. The cardfactory made changes to their leave policy, again led by a Kinship Carer employee who used her skills in HR to effect change.

She said: “I worked for cardfactory, a truly family friendly employer, and I have a career that focuses on employment law. In 2022 I was able to put my influencing skills to the test and we announced to the business that we would offer Kinship leave on parity with maternity, adoption and shared parental leave. A leave offering that was genuinely inclusive.”  

The cardfactory addressed the fact that not all Kinship Carers have a legal order in place and will accept written confirmation from a professional working with the family, for example a social worker, doctor or teacher, confirming that the employee is in fact a Kinship Carer. This broader approach to professional input takes into account that not all Kinship Carers are in touch with Social Services.

Another large employer, Tesco, publicly announced a change to their leave policy to include 26 weeks paid leave for Kinship Carers who hold a Special Guardianship Order which is issued in England therefore excluding most Kinship Carers in Scotland. KCASS contacted Tesco and have received their response which states: “As Scotland has a different legal adoption framework and colleagues will be likely to have a Permanence Order or a Kinship Care Order, rather than an SGO, we will be happy to look at individual applications to ensure our colleagues in Scotland are able to access this policy in the way it was intended. We are proud of becoming one of the first UK retailers to support colleagues who are Kinship Carers by giving them equal rights to colleagues who adopt. Thank you for highlighting the situation for Kinship Carers in Scotland”. 

North Ayrshire Council has also recently introduced Kinship friendly policies, along with our partners The Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption (AFKA) Scotland.

What next?

We strongly support Ms Don’s recognition that changes in statutory parental leave rights along with flexible working and leave arrangements for all Kinship Carers are essential, and join the call for these to be introduced as quickly as possible. As there has been a focus on Kinship Care over the last year and acknowledging that the Scottish Government is aware of the changes required to improve the situation for many Kinship families, we will continue to call for change and are hopeful to see this implemented to benefit our community. As a Kinship Carer recently told Westminster: “Something has to change. Guidance isn’t working, but legislation and mandated processes do work. I need you to change the system, my niece needs you to change the system”.

These changes, if made, will facilitate improvements for Kinship families. It is imperative that Kinship Carers are not penalised for taking on the care of a child. They should be supported to provide a safe and loving environment for the child in their care while remaining in employment, where able to do so with their employer’s support. Employer’s taking a lead role in implementing Kinship friendly policies will play a key part in ensuring this happens.