Pay and Allowance for Foster Carers
How much do foster carers get paid? The most frequently asked questions Swiis receive are related to pay, fostering allowances and general finances by those people looking to become a foster parent. Fostering a child is not only an emotionally rewarding experience, but a generous financially supported career choice.
How Much Do Swiis Foster Carers Get Paid?
Once you commence your journey to foster, you will be asked as part of your assessment to go through a number of background checks so that Swiis can ensure you are able and appropriate to undertake the role of foster carer.
One Child
Up to
£625
/week
Swiis pay excellent allowances. Together with outstanding support from Swiis, our foster carers play a significant role in transforming the lives of vulnerable children.
Swiis foster carer’s pay for one child in arrangement is the equivalent to £32,500. All of which is TAX FREE.
Enhanced One Child
Up to
£1,380
/week
Swiis will pay an enhanced fee if we are only able to place one child who, due to additional needs, is required to be placed on their own with no other children.
Swiis foster carer’s pay for an enhanced arrangement is equivalent to £71,760. £47,220 of this is TAX FREE for a child over 11 years old. £43,060 is tax free for under 11s.
Two Siblings
Up to
£1,218
/week
Foster Carers who are able to accommodate two siblings of any age will be paid a greater fee.
Swiis foster carers pay for two siblings is Equivalent to £63,336. All of which is TAX FREE.
Two Unrelated Children
Up to
£1,250
/week
Foster carers who are able to accommodate two unrelated children will be paid a higher fee. You must have two available bedrooms.
Swiis foster carer pay for 2 unrelated children is equivalent to £65,000. All of which is TAX FREE.
Parent & Child Arrangement
Up to
£1,167
/week
Foster carers who undertake a Parent and Child arrangement will receive specialist training and support. These arrangements tend to last no longer than 12 weeks.
Swiis foster carer’s pay for a Parent and Child arrangement is Equivalent to £14,004 for a 12-week arrangement. All of which is TAX FREE*.
*This is based on the pay from Parent & Child Arrangement not exceeding £40,420 in any one tax year.
Please note the above pay and allowances are an indication of the weekly payments made for each arrangement type. All fees vary as each arrangement is assessed on an individual basis and can differ by region.
Fostering Allowances are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change, talk to a member of the Swiis team to discuss how the finances could work for you. For current tax free allowances, please see the Gov.uk website.
Fostering Finance Handbook
Download our free Fostering Finance Handbook to discover everything you need to know about fostering with Swiis.
Call us today on 0333 577 1234 or fill out the form below to find out more about how much you could earn and the life-changing difference you could make to a child or young person.
Additional Foster Carer Payments
Becoming a foster carer is an incredibly rewarding career, and at Swiis, we recognise the commitment and dedication of our foster carers by offering additional financial benefits outside of their fostering allowance.
Annual Bonus
All Swiis foster carers are eligible to receive an annual bonus of £500. This bonus is based on the outcome of their yearly review and shows our appreciation to our foster carers for the time, effort and commitment they have given throughout the year.
Pay for Birthdays, Christmas, and Festive Holidays
We understand that special occasions often mean extra expenses for foster carers. To help with the cost of gifts or outings, we give foster carers £150 per foster child or young person on their birthdays, Christmas, and other festive holidays.
Transfer Payments
If you transfer to Swiis from another fostering agency, we offer a transfer support payment of £1,000 once you are approved and have accepted your first fostering arrangement. If you transfer with a child already in your care, you will receive a support payment of £2,000 to ensure you can continue care during the transition period and are also able to prepare for the child’s needs in a home-finding arrangement in line with Swiis guidelines.
Welcome Support Payment
To ensure that newly approved foster carers have everything they need to commence their fostering journey and prepare for the child’s needs, Swiis will make a Welcome Support payment of £1,000*.
You will receive payment once you are approved as foster carers with Swiis and you receive your first home-finding arrangement.
What Is A Foster Carer?
Let’s start with defining what a foster carer is. Fostering provides a secure and caring home for children and young people who are unable to live with their parents. Being a foster carer involves providing a safe home and day-to-day care for children and young people.
Becoming a foster carer offers the opportunity to make an immeasurable difference in a child’s life. Foster carers offer vulnerable children safety, stability, understanding and opportunities they would not otherwise have.
Children in care should have the same opportunity as all children, to a safe and loving home. They should be healthy, feel safe, feel valued and given support to achieve a positive and fulfilling future.
Foster Carer Pay and Allowance FAQs
How Much Do Foster Carers Get Paid?
The exact amount of fostering allowance offered to foster carers varies depending on the type of arrangement, age of the child and the child’s individual needs. Whatever the circumstances, the pay our carers receive is amongst the highest in the industry. Generally, the older the child or young person the higher the weekly fee.
The Government (England) sets out that all foster carers get a minimum foster care allowance to help cover the cost of caring for a child. Swiis remunerate our carers significantly above the national minimum allowances, as shown below:
| Area | Age 0 to 2 | Age 3 to 4 | Age 5 to 10 | Age 11 to 15 | Age 16 to 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Minimum Allowance: London | £205 | £208 | £233 | £266 | £309 |
| Swiis Pays Up To* | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 |
| National Minimum Allowance: South East | £195 | £203 | £223 | £255 | £298 |
| Swiis Pays Up To* | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 |
| National Minimum Allowance: Rest of England | £176 | £182 | £201 | £227 | £267 |
| Swiis Pays Up To* | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 | £625 |
How Does The Foster Carer Allowance Work?
As a Swiis foster carer, you will receive a combined allowance each week. This is split into two parts, one which covers the costs of caring for the children or young people and should be utilised for all their food, clothes, activities and other sundries, the other is an allowance paid to the foster carers for the support they provide for the foster carer role.
An element of the fostering allowance should be allocated towards supporting the child or young person in the home-finding arrangement, however guidance in terms of how the allowance should be utilised is provided to you in writing at the commencement of the arrangement.
The weekly allocation of the allowance is discretionary.
Are Foster Carers Considered Employed or Self-Employed?
In the case of foster carers, any income earned due to their role is considered self-employment and entitled to considerable tax relief.
Swiis further provides a number of other ad hoc payments to our carers to help towards the exceptional costs of looking after children. This may include support towards clothing, equipment and activities, in particular, if a carer takes the child or young person on holiday, payments towards this will be considered if the costs are exceptional.
All additional payments are made on a case-by-case basis and will be in addition to your weekly fee.
All new carers taking their first arrangement will receive a welcome support payment of £1,000.00 to help with the initial costs of fostering, such as equipment or essential sundries. Many other fostering organisations do not provide such enhanced benefits to their foster carers.
How Does Fostering Pay Affect Tax, Pensions and State Benefits?
Fostering allowances and fees received for fostering are fully disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to means tested benefits and where a (Secondary) foster carer may be searching for work, they can continue to receive jobseeker’s allowance, income support and employment and support allowance.
Tax Exemption for Foster Carer Pay
There is a fixed tax exemption of up to £20,440 per year (called Qualifying Care Relief) which is shared equally among any foster carers in the same household. This means you don’t have to pay tax on the first £20,440 of the income (after expenses) you make from fostering per year.
In addition to the £20,440 tax exemption, foster carers will receive additional tax relief for every week (or part week) that a child or young person is in your care of £435 (per week) for each child under 11, or £515 per week for each child or young person aged 11 or older. Collectively both the Qualifying Care Relief and additional weekly fostering tax benefits applied to the fostering role, will for most foster carers, negate the requirement to pay tax on earnings from fostering.
Learn more about fostering tax relief
How Fostering Pay Affects Your Pension and National Insurance
If you foster, you will be eligible for National Insurance credits, which counts towards your State Pension.
The HMRC have also created a dedicated Foster Care eLearning package which offers Foster Carers guidance, advice and practical tips relating to tax and National Insurance.
Fostering pay and allowances will not affect your entitlement to most state benefit payments.
Fostering pay and allowances will not affect Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. If you claim Carer’s Allowance or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for your own child, it will not affect these either. You can learn more about these benefits at GOV.UK.
As fostering counts as self-employment, you could be entitled to Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit if you have children of your own.
The only exception is Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), which will be affected if you are receiving a fostering allowance.
Claiming DLA for a foster child or young person
If you have a foster child with a disability, Swiis Health Advisors or Supervising Social Workers will assist you to make a claim for DLA on their behalf to your local authority. The local authority will work with you and Swiis to agree a care plan and the budget requirements for the DLA award. They might also pay for any modifications you need for your home. Find out more about disability benefits at GOV.UK.
What Additional Pay Does Swiis Give Its Foster Carers?
Swiis’s Welcome Support Payment
In addition to the weekly allowance, you will receive a Welcome Support package of £1,000 which is provided to all new carers to assist them with the preparation of their first arrangement.
Transferring foster carers should contact the Swiis office directly for more information about the welcome payment for transferring foster carers.
When children or young people arrive in their home-finding arrangement without the necessary clothing and equipment, Swiis will provide additional payments for essential items as necessary.
All additional payments will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Additional Support Payments for Foster Carers
The foster carer may also receive additional payments when he or she takes the child or young person on a holiday which may has a significant attributable cost.
We believe that where possible, all children and young people should have the opportunity to be part of a family holiday and experience opportunities that they would not have otherwise have.