Foster carers ‘deserve professional pay’ – Fostering Network

A charity is claiming that more than three-quarters of foster carers in the UK earn less than the equivalent of the minimum wage, with a third of carers having seriously considered giving up.

Any parent will tell you raising children has its rewards but they will also make clear the work involved.

Foster carers, like Michelle and Paul Sutcliffe, in Cheshire, know all those highs and the lows. They have been looking after children for 16 years – long before their own sons were born.

“You do get rewards out of it. You get to meet some lovely people, lovely children and it changes your life.

“Some of them stay with us for years and years,” says Michelle.

The family looks after their own children Liam, seven, and three-year-old Connor, alongside those they foster.

A teenage girl is with them on a long-term basis and she returned home from school as I was talking to the Sutcliffes.

It was immediately clear that she was treated as one of the family – joining in the fun as the boys played in the living room.

The Sutcliffes also foster others on an ad hoc basis, providing respite care.

In a regular week it means they care for at least two teenagers as well as their two boys.

Earnings survey

Paul quit his job a few years ago to concentrate on fostering and is paid about £150 a week.

While allowances are also paid to reflect the costs of looking after a child, the family say they believe that the amount earned should be considerably more.

“The time has come where foster carers have to be recognised financially,” argues Michelle.

“Residential care workers, for instance, are paid £18,000 a year and I think the time has come where foster carers have to be recognised in a similar way.”

The fees paid vary from area to area and depend on several factors, including the needs of the child, the experience of the carer and the type of fostering involved.

However the Fostering Network insists that the money paid does not reflect what it describes as “a living wage”.

It surveyed more than 2,000 foster carers and discovered that 77% earned less than they would be paid for a 40-hour-week on the national minimum wage (around £230).

‘Demanding work’

For many people money is not the main motivation for fostering, but 36% of the carers surveyed said they had seriously considered giving it up as a result of what they viewed as the poor pay.

The charity says that is a worry because there is already a shortage of 10,000 foster carers in the UK.

“Fostering has changed over the years,” says Madeline Tearse, who wrote the report for the Fostering Network.

“Foster carers are now expected to carry out skilled and demanding work, which should be recognised with professional rates of pay.”

Different fostering services offer different rates – the Fostering Network wants that to change.

It is calling for government ministers across the UK to work to ensure that a minimum rate of pay is established.

But that requires support at a time when many public services are facing cuts.

Michelle Sutcliffe accepts it will not be easy getting fees increased but she insists it is important that carers’ voices are heard.

“You are always going to get a certain amount of foster carers who will continue to foster whatever,” she says.

“But I do think, especially in the financial climate as it is, that people will start to leave.

“There are carers I know who have already left to go and work in supermarkets and DIY stores, because they need a regular income that is more than you get from fostering.”