CYP Now - Incentive payments: sector split over ethics and effectiveness

Leaders say offering payments to attract foster carers will boost councils’ placement options and reduce costs, but some experts doubt that financial inducements will work and instead call for a national recruitment campaign.

The profile of many foster carers tends to be among the older age group with people often choosing to look after children following a career in teaching, care or social work. Picture: Konstantin Yuganov/Adobe Stock

CYP Now’s Freedom of Information request responses show that just nine in 122 local authorities offer an incentive fee to attract new foster carers. Yet the use of such payments, sometimes known as “golden hellos”, has long been contentious across the sector – it has been common practice by independent fostering agencies for some time.

In 2016, Dave Hill, then president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), described the practice as “immoral and wrong”.

Latest Ofsted figures show that the number of foster carers in England has increased by four per cent since 2014, while there has been an 11 per cent rise in children in foster care.

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