New to fostering

[CharleyTumbridge1990]

Hi. I'm a single mum to two boys, I work 16 hours and have just been approved as a foster carer! Does anyone know what I'm entitled to benefits wise? With and without working? I'm looking at both options. Any advice would be much much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello and welcome!
I'm a single foster carer and as I foster under 5's I had to give up work. When I have a placement I claim income support, and when I don't I claim job seekers allowance.
It's a pain to have to go on job seekers though as you then have to actively be looking for work! Hopefully when universal comes in (I think it's already came in in certain parts of the country?) it will make it easier.

I'm not sure what you can claim whilst working, hopefully someone else can help you there!

Thank you for your reply! I'm going to be having 5-11's so going to attempt working also first, if not I just want to be sure not working is also financially an option. A few people have said you have to register self employed? Did you look into this at all? Thanks

I haven't, but I know I should.. It just seems so confusing!

Glad I'm not the only one finding it confusing then!!

You MUST register as self employed, you're liable to a large fine if you don't. I'm pretty sure the tax man will easily find out if you claim benefits as a foster carer but aren't registered. My LA ask tax advisors to come along to support groups for advice, but even if yours don't I think there is a fair bit of help online - check the You Gov site.

I fill in my tax return online and it's fairly straight forward - I'm not good with forms but manage to do it in about 30 minutes, once a year.

I claim income support as I'm a single carer. You can claim working tax credit instead which is about the same money wise, and possible less of a hassle if you're a short term carer who will have to switch from IS to Job Seekers Allowance between placements.

You're also entitled to claim Income Support for foster children until they're 18, unlike birth children, as most LAs insist you give up work to care for them even when they're school age.

Hi I'm confused with the comment about income support being claimed for a foster child and the self employed comment too .I've been told by my sw that benefits are not affected by fostering as it's an allowance not a wage however even though I was told agencies are the same for benefits, it's confusing as they pay a lot more and you have to pay tax . Can anyone clarify who does claim income support whether their payments were affected

Hi I am a foster carer with 2 birth children.
You cannot claim any benefits for your FC.
You can claim benefits for yourself.
I claim WTC and CTC for myself and my BC.
I do not work.
When filling in tax credit forms your income is classed as 0..
When filling in tax return your income depends on how much you have been paid.
The tax allowances are quite high and if you only have one child in placement you usually pay 0 tax.
The tax are really helpful if you ring them.

Hi Sorry I'm not sure how to use this, I will be with the local authority so will only get an allownce for the child not a wage so I'm not sure it's all a bit confusing By the sounds of it you are with an agency is that correct

Yes, I'm with an agency. Any money we receive is treated as income.
We receive 2 payments each month this is money to provide everything the child needs, transport, clothes, food, savings, pocket money, xmas, etc.
As it is all included in the payments it is all taxable. We have one child living with us and is now long term.
The tax allowances are very high so we don't need to pay any, however we still need to declare it on a tax return otherwise we will be fined. If you have more children and the income is high you may pay tax. Each year our agency sends us info of all income. This is handy if you have lots of children coming and going.
We were advised to declare we were self employed as soon as we were passed at panel.
As far as understand this also applies to LA.

OK that's fine Well with the local authority its only £140a week which is for the child and isn't classed as income and I was informed of this at a half days training. It's an allowance and will not affect my state benefits This is better for me so I don't have to keep changing between different benefits. Thank you

There is a government website that advises on what and how benefits are affected. It also offers advise on National insurance payments.
Your allowance may go up as you do more training. It does in our LA.
This enables you to spoil the little one a bit more and provide more clubs and activities for them.
It also means you don't need to work as if you have a child who requires lots of medical appointments or contact it can be hard to fit your work around this. Our little one has been with us for 4 years and I have only just been able to go back to work for a couple of hours a week.

Hi all, I'm also just starting thr fostering process, I've had an initial video call, went really well, now just waiting to start the process properly. I have a 2 year old daughter as of this week, so explaining it to her was a bit hard, going to try to find some books to help me talk to her about it, fingers crossed we pass panel!!

@mamabee1820 Hi how have you found it so far? I have an 18 month old and planning to apply when she turns 2 but not sure if they will view this negatively as she'll still be so young and not have a big age gap?? Thank you x

A great source of information for anything to do with fostering is www.fosterwiki.com where you can find info on anything. FosterWiki is designed to help empower Foster Carers with knowledge, through examples and experiences of other Foster Carers. The other thing I would say to all foster carers, but particularly newbies, is make sure you are a member of an independent organisation that will defend and act for you in the event that an allegation is made against you. It is crucial. Examples are nupfc.com and fostersupport.co.uk. If you dont know why this is necessary then I would urge you to do a bit of background on allegations because if you havent got someone who knows the system backing you up then you could be taken to the cleaners !

As always f0stercarer your advice is spot on!
I would also advise to be really mindful of caring for a foster child while your birth children are young.
When caring for a foster child they become your priority. Your own children take a back seat.
If you are thinking about caring for babies they often have lots of contact with birth parents.
You will probably be expected to facilitate this or at the very least transport them their and back.
Our agency will only place a child in a family where they will be 2 years younger than the youngest birth child.

Sorry- there and back!