Foster and kinship carers - Scottish Recommended Allowance: implementation review

20 Jul 2025 09:37 PM

Findings from independent research that was commissioned by the Scottish Government to collect data on whether the implementation of the Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) had achieved (or was starting to achieve) its policy intent.

Introduction

Background

In 2019, the Scottish Government committed in its Programme for Government to work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to introduce a Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) for foster and kinship carers; this was re-stated in The Promise Implementation Plan 2021-24.

On 29 August 2023, following negotiation with COSLA, agreement was reached and the Scottish Government introduced the SRA. This marked the first time a set rate, which all local authorities must pay to foster and kinship carers, was introduced across Scotland.

In October 2024, the Scottish Government commissioned independent research to collect data on the implementation of the Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship Carers (SRA). The aim of the work was to collect data on whether the implementation of the SRA had achieved (or was starting to achieve) its policy intent, by bringing consistency and transparency to the allowances paid to foster and kinship carers, and ensuring that all caregivers, no matter where they live, receive at least a set rate to cover the costs of the child[ren] they are looking after.

This report presents the findings from that work and will be used to feed into the overall evaluation of the SRA, to understand the impact for foster and kinship families, inform adjustments to delivery and help with design and development of future policy in the field.

The Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship Carers

The introduction of the SRA sought to ensure that every eligible foster and kinship carer would receive at least a standard, national allowance which recognises the valuable support they provide, and ensures that children in foster and kinship care get the support they need to thrive. It also sought to ensure parity in the financial support provided to kinship and foster carers, no matter where they live in Scotland. The SRA was forecast to benefit over 9,000 children and result in an uplift in most kinship and foster carers’ finances to help them cover the costs of caring for children. Its introduction was a significant achievement and contributes to the Scottish Government’s commitment to Keeping The Promise, and wider priorities to reduce child poverty.

While Scottish Ministers have the option to legislate to require local authorities to adhere to the SRA using powers under The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (Section 110), this power was not used and instead a collaborative approach with COSLA was taken to introducing the SRA. As such, local authorities were not legally required to pay the SRA and its implementation was an agreement between COSLA and Scottish Government.

At the launch of the SRA, Scottish Government and COSLA also agreed that local authorities would publish online their allowances for foster and kinship carers. This was to include key details of rates, entitlement, eligibility criteria, how it would be assessed and where more information could be found. In addition, there was also a legal duty under Part 13 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Support for Kinship Care) and The Kinship Care Assistance (Scotland) Order 2016 for local authorities to publish information about the provision of kinship care assistance in their local authority area, including the rate at which allowances are paid.

COSLA also agreed that where local authorities were already paying above the SRA, allowances would not be reduced, so that kinship or foster carers currently in receipt of an allowance would not be worse off.

Importantly, the SRA is an agreement between the Scottish Government and local authorities to ensure equity in the allowances paid for looked after children across Scotland to foster and kinship carers.

Similarly, the placement of children by local authorities, with external agencies, is a contracted agreement between the local authority and agency. By their nature, independent fostering agencies (IFAs) have always been able to decide both the allowance and fee they pay their foster carers, and the responsibility for payment of the allowance to foster carers sits with the IFA, not the local authority. Consequently, any discussion regarding the implementation of the SRA in IFAs is a contractual matter. Given this, and the fact that Scottish Government did not legislate to require local authorities to adhere to the SRA, it was not and is not enforceable on IFAs.

Placement of children with IFAs by local authorities can be made via the Scotland Excel (or other) framework but also by the local authorities' own contracts or occasionally on a spot purchased basis. They are therefore covered by the terms of that contract. Contracts will have a weekly rate inclusive of various costs - including child’s allowance, fees, management fees and additional items. Discussions as to how the SRA is reflected in contracts between local authorities and IFAs are currently (and were at the time of the SRA launch) the responsibility of those two parties.

Recognising the complexity and diversity of the foster and kinship arrangements in Scotland, information regarding the allowance rates for different age bands and what the SRA monies were intended to cover was set out after its launch on the Scottish Government website alongside other information for carers and professionals (at Scottish Recommended Allowance: information for carers and professionals - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This, alongside the information provided by local authorities, IFAs and various third sector organisations working with and for carers in Scotland provides the main source of current information regarding the SRA.

Research Questions

While the overarching aims of the research were to explore if the SRA has helped to bring consistency and transparency to the allowances paid to foster and kinship carers, and whether it had resulted in local authority foster and eligible kinship carers receiving at least the SRA, the data collection also focused on gathering feedback to address ten key research questions, these being:

• Do carers and professionals know where to find information about the SRA?
• Is it clear that the SRA is to pay for the costs of the child and does not cover foster carers’ fees?
• Is there any additional information that it would be helpful for Scottish Government to publish centrally (e.g. interaction with benefits, annual allowance rates for all local authorities)?
• Are individual local authorities paying the SRA or above the SRA?
• Do the current allowance rates at each SRA age band reflect the needs of the child at that age?
• Should there continue to be four SRA age bands, or is an alternative approach to banding more appropriate?
• How many kinship carers are impacted by how the SRA interacts in practice with both Scottish and Reserved Social Security benefits?
• Do stakeholders hold the view that the Scottish Government should legislate for the SRA to ensure consistency and transparency of allowances in Scotland?
• How has the implementation of the SRA affected the contracts between local authorities and independent fostering agencies and how do IFA allowances compare to the SRA?
• What is the distribution of foster and kinship carers in Scotland, and are more foster and kinship carers receiving the SRA residing in areas of high deprivation, measured by the SIMD, than in areas of affluence?

The methodology for the work was designed with these research questions in mind.

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