Chamber and committees

The level of kinship care payments are the responsibility of local authorities, who are best placed to determine local need. The Scottish Government recognises progress so far on delivering kinship care payments and we are committed to working with local authorities to ensure that kinship carers receive the support they need.

Section 37(3) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 extends to Scotland.

The block grant which the Scottish Government provides to Scotland’s local authorities includes funding for kinship care. The block grant is allocated to individual local authorities using a formula based on the relative need of each local authority. This formula has been developed over a number of years in consultation with local government.

Guaranteed pension credit is not included as a qualifying criteria for free school meals. In Scotland, our approach is to use other qualifying criteria, such as maximum child tax credit and maximum working tax credit. Over the past two years, as a result of the extended national eligibility and targeted local initiatives, 29,301 (or 28.7%) more pupils have registered to receive a nutritious free meal at school. Additionally, local authorities are encouraged to target their resources to the benefit children and families most in need using the legislative powers that exist, and this may include the provision of free food and drink in schools.

This information is not collected centrally.

The Scottish Government recognises that many kinship carers care for children who are not looked after but who also need additional financial and non-financial help. That is why we believe kinship carers should be supported financially by the tax and benefit system first and foremost. We are committed to securing further changes from UK Government to make this happen and have been in regular dialogue with relevant departments.

In addition, when the national Kinship Advice, Outreach and Support Service was launched in March in partnership with Children 1st, “informal kinship carers” were specifically included within its remit. The service can be contacted through Parentline on 0800 028 2233.

No. Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about the level of allowances – what is needed to support a particular child with a particular carer taking account of the carers’ overall financial circumstances.

Scottish Government officials have met and discussed the issue of benefit eligibility and the impact of kinship care allowances on this on a number of occasions since the policy was introduced. Further discussions will be undertaken as part of the wider welfare reform agenda by the UK Government.

The vast majority of the funding provided to local government by the Scottish Government, including the funding for kinship care allowances, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

No. The Scottish Government is stepping back from ring fencing, giving councils more freedom and flexibility in allocating their resources as they best see fit.