Fees and allowances

Fostering is paid work, and it should not leave you out of pocket. This page sets out what you would receive, what it is meant to cover, and the extra payments that sit alongside it.

What you are paid

Sparks carers receive £600 to £1,000 a week per child. Where in that range you sit is linked to the fee the local authority pays Sparks, which follows the needs of the child you are caring for. Every carer currently fostering with us, including newly approved carers, has received £750 or more a week. The range is well above the minimum the government sets.

Your payment is in two halves. One half is the allowance for the child’s costs. The other half is your fee, for the professional side of the role — the recording, the meetings, the training.

The allowance covers the extra bills a child in the home brings, travel within 20 miles for anything the child needs — family time, a place of worship, clubs, appointments — and the child’s clothing, toiletries, activities, food and pocket money, agreed with their social worker.

You are also expected to set some of it aside for the occasional larger thing: a bike, a more expensive activity.

Some costs sit outside the allowance entirely. Counselling, therapy and tuition for a child are met by Sparks.

Separately from the allowance, Sparks sets aside £30 a week for every child. It is passed to the child when they move on. It is not taken out of your payment.

Not on its own, and we would rather say so. You are paid when you are caring for a child, which makes it closer to self-employment than to a salary.

That is why the assessment includes a financial check — not to judge what you have, but to make sure your household would not be in difficulty if there were a gap. Where gaps do happen, the bridging payment below is designed to take the edge off.

Where the money goes

We publish the split, because you are entitled to know what happens to the fee a local authority pays for a child in your care.

50% goes to you — half as the child’s allowance, half as your fee.

20% is set aside for the additional payments listed on this page: the approval payment, the welcome grant, holidays, festivals, respite, bridging and referral payments.

10% is for insurance.

20% covers everything else the agency has to fund — specialist training, assessment and panel costs, support for carers when no child is with them, staff, registration and accounts, recruitment, and reserves.

Extra payments

These sit on top of the weekly payment. None of them is claimed back or means-tested.

Paid after panel, per household. It covers what the assessment cost you — a laptop, work the home needed — and helps you get ready for a child arriving.

A loyalty payment of £200 for each year you have been approved, paid on your anniversary. At ten years that is £2,000.

A welcome grant each time a child joins you, for the welcome pack and the clothes, toys and other things a child arriving may need.

Up to £150 per child for a birthday and for two religious festivals. It covers gifts, special meals, extra family time and anything else that makes the day.

Up to £300, twice a year. We want children to go on holiday with the family — it is a normal part of childhood, it makes memories, and it builds the relationship. If you are not going abroad, use it for local activities the child chooses. The grant covers the child’s costs.

Pro rata across 52 weeks of fostering. If the child does not stay with a respite carer, you can take the equivalent payment with your allowance instead.

Gaps between children joining you should not put a household under financial strain. If you have fostered for more than twelve months, have no child placed, and we have not been able to offer you a suitable match, you are paid for two weeks. Pro rata across 52 weeks of fostering.

For every foster carer and household member. Spend it on a course, on books, or on meeting other Sparks carers and staff — the relationships are part of the learning. It rolls over for up to three months.

If you introduce someone who goes on to foster with us, or a member of staff who joins us, there is a payment for that. Where more than one person refers the same applicant, the first referral counts, and referrals hold good for two years.

Tax and benefits

Foster carers are treated as self-employed and get tax relief that is considerably more generous than most people expect. We cannot give you tax or benefits advice, but we can point you at the right places.

When you start fostering you register as self-employed and file a tax return each year. Foster carers get a specific tax relief, so you pay less tax than you would on the same money in employment.

Depending on your circumstances you may still be able to claim certain benefits, such as income support, council tax reduction or housing benefit.

From Sparks Fostering

Our guide to self-assessment and claiming benefits — ask your supervising social worker for the current copy.

Elsewhere

HMRC e-learning on tax and national insurance

Junior ISAs for looked-after children — government guidance

Blue Light Card — foster carers can apply, and the savings are substantial

You could be welcoming a child to your home soon

Apply to Foster Now

Or call 07920 097 834  ·  [email protected]