Here at Clifford House, we’re proud to support our dedicated community of foster parents and their families. We understand how important it is for our foster parents to feel supported through every aspect of their journey with us. We do this by offering top-quality training, building relationships within our local community and by supporting our foster parents financially.
Below are just some of the ways in which we are investing in our foster families so they can continue to provide the best outcomes for the children and young people in their care.
We’ve increased our fostering allowances
As an independent fostering agency, Clifford House has always provided great financial support. We recognise the importance of offering generous payments so that you and your foster family can thrive. We know money isn’t the main motivation to foster, however, due to the rising cost of living, we want to ensure all our foster parents can continue to provide the very best standard of care to our children without having to worry. That’s why, to help combat rising costs, from April 2024, we’ve awarded a 5% pay increase to all our foster families.
As a foster parent with Clifford House, you can now expect to receive between £368.69 to £475.65 per week, per child in your care. Every foster parent working with Clifford House will benefit from this pay increase.
How Your Family Could Benefit
As an example of how our payments have improved, under our previous allowances a new foster parent caring for one child between the ages of 0-4 would receive a minimum payment of £349.65 per week, a total of £1,398.06 per month. With our new payment increases, this same foster parent will now be in receipt of £368.69 per week, or £1,474.76 per month.
With our former payment structure, a new foster parent caring for two teenagers would receive a combined payment of £ 873.18 per week for both children, which works out as £3492.72 per month. Thanks to our payment increases, this same foster parent will now be entitled to £911.26 per week, or £3645.04 per month.
With this increase to monthly finances, we hope to show our gratitude to all of our hard-working foster parents and increase your ability to provide for your family and offer the best possible support for the young people in your care.
Recognising our Experienced Foster Carers
Here at Clifford House we recognise how much time and hard work our foster parents dedicate to improving the lives of children, as well as to developing their own parenting skills by taking part in our excellent training courses. Because of this, our payment threshold increases over time to reflect the level of experience and wisdom of our foster carers.
Foster parents who have three years of experience and who have completed all relevant training will receive our highest rate of pay to reflect their abilities. As an example, in the same scenarios as those given above, rather than £1,474.76 per month for caring for a child between the ages of 0-4, an experienced foster parent at Clifford House will receive a minimum monthly payment of £1,554.84. In the second scenario, instead of receiving a monthly payment of £3645.04 for looking after two teenagers, an experienced foster parent would receive a minimum of £3,805.02 per month.
Other Benefits of Fostering with Clifford House
Other financial benefits offered by Clifford House include a £100 allowance paid annually to all foster parents to help your family celebrate your foster child’s birthday in style. This payment could be put towards gifts, a party, or an exciting day out. We also provide an additional annual payment of £100 which your family can put towards celebrating any religious holiday your foster child observes.
Please be aware that the figures shared in this article are for guidance purposes only. The amount of money which you will receive as a fostering household can differ depending on several factors. These factors include the age of the children in your care, whether the children you are looking after are siblings, and whether any of the children in your care have complex needs. Speak with a member of our team to learn exactly how much money you and your family are entitled to.
Do you think fostering could be the right career for you? To learn more about how much you could earn as a foster parent, including how tax laws and national insurance payments effect foster parents, get in touch.