Thousands of relatives caring for children face financial strain, often having to reduce work hours or claim benefits.
Research by Kinship, based on 1,245 carers, found four in 10 are claiming benefits or increasing entitlements. In England and Wales, 141,000 children are being raised by relatives, yet support for carers remains limited.
Unlike adoptive parents, kinship carers have no right to paid employment leave when taking on a child. The study found 26% struggled to afford essentials, 28% had to borrow money and 25% fell behind on bills.
The emotional toll is also high. 69% said the lack of paid leave increased household stress, 58% reported impacts on mental health and 10% said it led to a complete breakdown.
Nash, an NHS midwife from Chelmsford, took in her sister’s three children after she sadly passed away in May 2024.
‘We were so close,’ Nash explained. ‘I was always part of her life and her children’s. So, it was a no-brainer that the children, aged 15, eight and six, would come and live with me and my husband and our four children.’
‘I love my job, but it’s been relentless. Adjusting to a new way of life while grieving for my sister has been a massive turmoil,’ she said.
‘I requested adoption leave or the equivalent, but I was declined. The HR department said they didn’t have policies in place to give paid leave to kinship carers…Without any support offered to me, this is my only option.’
Last week, Kinship launched a policy paper in parliament proposing kinship care leave, coinciding with the government’s review of parental leave rights.
Lucy Peake, CEO of Kinship, said: ‘Kinship carers not receiving paid leave from work is an absurd gap in the law.
‘They prevent children from growing up in care, saving the government billions, yet they are being plunged into debt or forced into claiming benefits for doing the right thing without any paid employment leave.
‘You wouldn’t expect a parent with a newborn baby to go back to work the next day, so there’s no justifiable reason why kinship carers should be expected to do the same.’
The research found 33% of kinship carers have taken on children under one and 45% children aged one to four.
Lucy, 31, from Cleethorpes, and her partner suddenly had to care for her newborn nephew when social services warned he might be put up for adoption.
Kinship carer Lucy said: ’We both worked for large corporate companies in senior roles, and when we asked for paid maternity and paternity leave to enable us to be at home with our newborn nephew, we faced resistance and were told “no”,’ she said.
‘Instead, they gave me six weeks compassionate leave and my partner two weeks but said they wanted us back to work even though we had a six-week-old baby.’
Image: Hoi An and Da Nang Photographer/UnSplash
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