As part of the Department for Education’s announcement today of a new pilot scheme to support kinship carers in seven Kinship Zones across England, Foundations has commissioned Alma Economics to evaluate the impact of financial allowances for eligible kinship families.
The kinship financial allowances pilot will run for up to three and a half years, backed by £26 million in funding, and see kinship carers in seven local authority areas receive funding equivalent to the National Minimum Allowance (NMA)1 for foster carers.
Today’s announcement of the trialling of financial allowances follows publication of the Kinship Care Practice Guide (2024), commissioned by the Department for Education and produced by Foundations, which found promising evidence on the positive impact of financial allowances for kinship families abroad.
Currently, kinship carers do not receive consistent financial support. The pilot is set to reach around 5,000 children in kinship care and will test whether financial support reduces financial strain on kinship carers and improves placement stability and permanence.
Foundations’ evaluation will test what works in different local areas and generate robust evidence about how best to deliver financial support to kinship families, helping to inform decisions about future expansion.
The evaluation is part of Foundations’ ongoing work to build the evidence base on what works to support kinship families and improve outcomes for the children they care for. Based on the Practice Guide’s recommendations, we have also identified two promising types of support programmes for kinship families that need further evaluation in the UK – kinship navigator programmes, and therapeutic supportfor kinship carers and children in kinship care – and launched two pilot evaluations in January 2026 to assess their impact.
We are also working to fill gaps in the evidence about the experiences of minoritised ethnic children and young people in kinship care. In February, Foundations launched two new projects, exploring their needs and views about identity, belonging, cultural continuity, and trust in kinship services
Alongside the announcement of the Kinship Zones pilot, today sees the publication of a report by Jahnine Davies, the National Kinship Care Ambassador, which contains learnings and insights from kinship carers, local authorities and children in kinship care designed to inform local kinship offers.
Dr Jo Casebourne, Chief Executive of Foundations, said:
“Kinship carers play a vital role in helping to ensure that children can stay safely looked after in their family networks, but we don’t know enough about what kind of support makes the biggest difference to them, or the children they care for. The Practice Guide we produced in 2024, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), showed promising evidence of the positive impact that kinship financial allowances had for families in other countries.
“That’s why we’re pleased to undertake the evaluation of the kinship financial allowances pilot announced today by DfE in the new Kinship Zones, to build a robust evidence base and help to shape future support for kinship families.
“It’s important to recognise that financial allowances are just one part of the support system that kinship carers need. There is evidence that many kinship families experience barriers to support, or other hardships in addition to financial strain, due to racial inequalities, or because children have experienced trauma or have disabilities, so we welcome the DfE’s plans to deliver enhanced support in the pilot areas, alongside financial allowances.
“Overall, the announcement today marks a welcome step towards our shared goal to ensure that all kinship families can consistently access evidence-based support when they need it.”
Aliya Saied-Tessier, Director at Alma Economics, said:
“We are excited to have been commissioned by Foundations to carry out an independent evaluation of the Kinship Zones pilot. This is an important opportunity to contribute to a stronger evidence base about what truly makes a difference for kinship carers and the children they look after.”
- This ranges between £170 and £299 per week, depending on the child’s age and location. ↩︎
Read the Department for Education’s press release on the Kinship Zones pilot.