How much does a foster carer get paid? This is a common question everyone asks, read on to find exact figures on how much foster parents are paid.
Fostering a child can be a truly rewarding experience, enabling you to change a child or young person’s life for the better. But of course, choosing whether to foster is an important decision – and one of the most common questions that gets asked is, how much do foster parents get paid?
At Capstone, our foster carers can earn from £20,400 to upwards of £41,600 per year.
Whilst we appreciate that conversations about foster care allowance can be uncomfortable, we also want to remove the stigma around fostering salaries. After all, whilst fostering is a vocation, it is also a career. So, read on to learn all about fostering allowances and whether fostering is a viable career choice for your family.
So, how much do you get paid for fostering? Fostering a child who desperately needs your help not only has emotional rewards, but financial benefits too. As a foster carer, much of your time will be dedicated to supporting and creating a safe environment for your foster child – which is why fostering allowance is provided to support you and your lifestyle, whether you’re a long or short term carer.
How much foster carers are paid per week depends on a number of factors. These factors can include:
Here at Capstone Foster Care, as an Employee Ownership Trust, we are able to offer competitive fostering rates for our fostering placements. Here is a financial breakdown of some of our most popular placements:
Total allowances for most of our standard placements - including respite payments - are in excess of £400 per week, which would work out to be around £1,700 a month or £20,400 a year. We also gift every carer with an annual £200 gift for ongoing carers at the re-approval stage and 14 nights short stay support.
The fostering allowance for parent and child placements starts from £670 per week, and the need for this service is increasing.
At Capstone, we have developed a long-standing, highly successful programme called MATTS, which provides carers with clinical support, additional training and resources to accommodate specialist therapeutic placements.
Fostering allowances for MATTS placements are between £525 and £600 per week, meaning if you look after a child in a MATTS placement for a whole year, your total income will be over £26,780 per child (and £23,000 of this will be tax-free).
To learn more about each placement, visit 'Types of Foster Care'.
The weekly allowance paid to carers is made up of two parts:
There are standards set by the government for independent agencies, such as Capstone Foster Care, to use as a guideline when compensating their foster carers. Click here to learn more.
Yes - foster carers do pay income tax. However, as well as receiving a competitive salary, foster carers benefit from specialist tax allowance called Qualifying Care Relief. Carers who qualify for care relief in 2023 to 2024 tax year are entitled to:
Foster carers who support children under the age of 11 will receive an additional £375 of tax relief per week, per child. Foster carers supporting children and adults aged 11 or over will receive £450 of tax relief per week, per child.
Once you are approved as a foster parent and registered with the HMRC, you will be classed as self-employed. In turn, you will need to keep a record of the ages of the children in your care and the dates/duration of when you foster for your annual tax return form.
Yes, you are still eligible to receive benefits as a foster parent. However, the benefits you receive could change once you become a foster carer. Some of the benefits you could be entitled to include:
If your fostering income falls within your qualifying care relief, you do not have to pay National Insurance. However, many foster carers voluntarily pay National Insurance to secure state benefits.
Yes, you can foster if you have experienced financial struggles in the past. However, you will need to provide evidence to show that you’re in a financially stable position now, in order to prove you can reasonably manage your fostering allowance and provide a stable home for a child.
At Capstone, we support our carers through every part of the fostering process – even through those difficult financial questions and conversations. So, we have created multiple resources to help you with all aspects fostering pay. Click the links below to read our detailed guides on:
Ready to apply for your career in foster care? Learn more about how to become a foster parent now. Alternatively, if you want to know more about fostering pay or advice on how much foster parents get paid, contact us on 0800 012 4004 or fill out the contact form below.
If you’ve got any questions or would like to find out more about fostering with Capstone, fill out the form below.
An experienced fostering advisor from your local area will then be in touch.
Start the conversation today. Our team of friendly advisors are on hand to answer any foster care questions you may have. We can offer you honest and practical advice that can help you decide if becoming a foster carer is the right path for you.
