Claiming expenses for family time sessions

You can claim expenses to help cover some of the costs of family time sessions, including the cost of:

• Travelling to family time sessions
• Food and drink for you and your foster child

Find out more about claiming travel expenses.

Food and drink costs

You can claim for food and drink at family time sessions for:

• Yourself, as the foster carer
• Your foster child

You cannot claim expenses for food and drink for the child's family, or anyone else attending the family time session.

You cannot claim expenses for alcoholic drinks.

How much you can claim for food and drink

Expenses you claim should be reasonable and necessary.

The maximum amounts you can claim for food and drink are:

• Breakfast: £7 per person
• Lunch: £9 per person
• Tea: £4 per person
• Evening meal: £11 per person

How to claim expenses for food and drink

You should get receipts for food and drink costs, unless this is likely to cause embarrassment to your foster child.

To claim expenses for food and drink, you should:

• Get the costs approved in advance by the child's social worker (unless they have already been agreed in the placement plan), and
• Submit your claim to the child's social worker on the Children's Provider Portal (ContrOCC), making sure you include any related receipts