Foster carer fees and allowances

You'll get paid fees and allowances every two weeks while you are providing a short-term or long-term foster care placement.

Your payment will usually include basic maintenance allowance, placement fees, and holiday allowance.

You may also get:

• Birthday allowance
• Christmas or religious festival allowance

There are different fees and allowances for these other types of fostering:

• Enhanced foster care
• Parent and child foster care
• Respite foster care
• Short breaks foster care
• Connected care
• Emergency foster care
• PACE bed foster care
• New Roads foster care
• Staying put arrangements

Basic maintenance allowance is designed to cover everyday costs like:

• Clothing
• Toiletries
• Activities
• Transport
• Pocket money
• Adding to your foster child's long-term savings

How much basic maintenance allowance you get for a placement depends on the age of your foster child. 

• Child aged 0 to 10 years: £187 per week
• Child or young person aged 11 to 15 years: £249 per week
• Young person aged 16 or 17: Up to £249 per week, depending on how much personal allowance they are get. Find out how personal allowance affects your basic maintenance allowance.

Placement fees are designed to reflect:

• The needs of the child or young person you are caring for, and
• The time, skills and experience required to care for them

Children's Services will assess your foster child's needs. We use this assessment to decide whether the foster placement is standard, enhanced or complex.

Standard placement fees

The fee for a standard placement is £227 per week.

Children and young people in standard placements are assessed as having:

• No areas of need that require immediate or intensive action
• No more than two areas of need that require action

Enhanced placement fees

The fee for an enhanced placement is £343 per week.

Children and young people in enhanced placements are assessed as having:

• No more than one area of need that requires immediate or intensive action
• At least three areas of need that require action

Complex placement fees

Fees for a complex placements are:

• Child aged 0 to 10 years: £672 per week
• Child or young person aged 11 to 17 years: £672 per week

Children and young people in complex placements are assessed as having at least two areas of need that require immediate or intensive action.

The amount of holiday allowance you get depends on your foster child's age. 

• Child aged 0 to 10 years: £7 per week (equal to £364 over a year)
• Child or young person aged 11 to 17 years: £10 per week (equal to £520 over a year) 

Holiday allowance helps to cover the cost of taking your foster child with you on trips or family holidays. You can use it to pay for things like:

• Transport
• Accommodation
• Luggage

You can claim expenses for holidays with school or youth groups, so you don't need to use your holiday allowance to cover these.

Birthday allowance is paid automatically. You'll get it with the last payment you receive before their birthday.

The allowance is to cover presents, parties, and other costs of celebrating your foster child's birthday. It is equal to one week's basic maintenance allowance, according to your foster child's age:

• Child aged 0 to 10 years: £187
• Child or young person aged 11 to 17 years: £249

Christmas or religious festival allowance is paid automatically in December. You will get it as a separate payment approximately two weeks before 25 December.

The allowance is to cover presents and related costs. It is equal to one week's basic maintenance allowance, according to the child or young person's age:

• Child aged 0 to 10 years: £187
• Child or young person aged 11 to 17 years: £249 

When a placement ends, you must report this to the payments team. This will let them know that they need to stop your fees and allowances for that placement.

• Email csfinancepayments@norfolk.gov.uk
• Phone - if your last name begins with:
  • A, B, C or D, call 01603 638177
  • E, F, G, H, I or J, call 01603 679340
  • K, L, M, N, O, P, Q or R, call 01603 222156
  • S, T, U, V, W, X, Y or Z, call 01603 222120

You may get paid more than you are entitled to if:

• A child or young person leaves your care in the middle of the two-weekly payment period
• The payments team have not been notified that the child or young person has left your care

This is called an overpayment.

What to do if you are overpaid

If a placement ends following an allegation

Child removed from placement, no further LADO investigation needed

Your payments for a placement will stop on the day we removed a child from your care following an allegation if:

• The allegation is referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO),
• A strategy meeting is held to review the allegation and,
• Following the meeting, it is agreed that no further LADO involvement or investigation is needed

Child removed from placement, further LADO investigation needed

In this scenario:

• An allegation has been made,
• The allegation is referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO),
• A strategy meeting is held to review the allegation, and
• Following the meeting, it is agreed there will be a Multi Agency LADO Meeting (MALM) to agree how the allegation will be investigated further

When this happens:

• You will get paid your full basic maintenance allowance and placement fee for two weeks from the date we removed the child from your care
• After the first two weeks, your basic maintenance allowance and placement fee will stop. You will then get paid a £250 retainer each week for 6 months, or until the date of the final Multi Agency LADO Meeting - whichever is earlier

Your foster child may temporarily be away from your home during placement because they are staying with:

• A new carer or adoptive parent as part of a planned introduction or assessment
• Family members for extended family time

They might also leave your home temporarily because:

• You need to take a break from caring during a placement, and they go into respite care
• You are seriously ill, and unable to provide foster care
• They are admitted to hospital

Child staying with family or significant others

If you are not caring for your foster child full-time because they are staying with family or significant others, you will get paid:

• Your full basic maintenance allowance, and
• Your full placement fee

This payment will need to be authorised by the fostering team manager and responsible budget officer. It will be reviewed every four weeks.

Child away in respite care

While your foster child is away in respite care you will get paid:

• Your fee for the placement, and
• 25% of your basic maintenance allowance for the placement

This will be for a maximum of two weeks at a time. You will not get paid for longer than two weeks unless this has been agreed in the placement plan and authorised by the Head of Fostering.

Child in hospital

If your foster child is temporarily away from your home because they have been admitted to hospital:

• You will get paid your full basic maintenance allowance and placement fee for four weeks after the child is admitted to hospital
• You may continue to be paid after the first four weeks. This will need to be approved by the Assistant Director of Corporate Parenting.

You cannot provide care due to ill health

If a foster child is temporarily away from your home because you are seriously ill and cannot care for them:

• You will get paid your full basic maintenance allowance and placement fee for two weeks after the child leaves your home
• After the first two weeks, your basic maintenance allowance and placement fee will stop. You will then get paid a £250 per week retainer for two weeks.

If you continue to get payments for a placement after the child or young person has left your care, you must contact the payments team immediately:

• Email csfinancepayments@norfolk.gov.uk
• Phone - if your last name begins with:
  • A, B, C or D, call 01603 638177
  • E, F, G, H, I or J, call 01603 679340
  • K, L, M, N, O, P, Q or R, call 01603 222156
  • S, T, U, V, W, X, Y or Z, call 01603 222120

How the payments team will recover the overpayment

If you are still providing other foster placements, the payments team will deduct the amount you have been overpaid from your next fees and allowances payment. If the amount overpaid is more than your normal payment amount, it will be deducted from more than one payment.

If you are not due to receive any further payments because no further placements are planned, the payments team will send you an invoice for the amount overpaid.

Help to repay

Talk to your supervising social worker if you need help to repay fees and allowances you have been overpaid.

In certain circumstances, you may be able to:

• Repay in smaller amounts over a longer period of time
• Repay a smaller total amount

This will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. It will need to be agreed by your supervising social worker, fostering team manager and the payments manager.