Government urged to extend 30 hours offer to fostered children

In a public letter, the organisations - which include the British Association of Social Workers, Coram BAAF and the Fostering Network - have called on children's minister Robert Goodwill to change eligibility criteria for 30 hours childcare so that foster carers can also access it.

The extended 30 hours of free childcare is available to working parents earning at least the minimum wage for a 16-hour week. Fostered children are excluded from the additional 15 hours but can access the original 15 hours.

"Children aged three and four across England are now entitled to an extra 15 hours of free childcare each week, with the exception of fostered children who have been explicitly and inexplicably excluded," the letter states.

"Moreover, foster carers are as a group unpaid or underpaid, and are often expected to work outside the home and not rely on their fostering income; they may therefore benefit from this extra childcare.

"This may particularly be the case for family and friends foster carers and those providing long-term care."

It adds: "We believe it should be left to the foster carer and the social work team to decide what is best for each individual child and the wider fostering family. Foster children must have access to the same opportunities as other children, including the sons and daughters of foster carers who are eligible for the extra hours of childcare. We urge the minister to rethink this decision immediately."

The exclusion of fostered children from the extra 15 hours of free childcare, which was introduced in September, was debated in parliament but was not mentioned within the Department for Education's public consultation on 30 hours free childcare that took place last year.

The other signatories of the letter are: Action for Children, Become, the Care Leavers' Association, Children England, Coram Voice, National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers, National Youth Advocacy Service, Tact, the Together Trust, and St. Christopher's.

As well as foster carers, the free childcare offer is not available to parents whose child doesn't usually live with them or to families with taxable income in excess of £100,000 a year.

Children and Families Minister Robert Goodwill said: "Foster carers play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and it's vital that they are given effective support.
 
"That's why children in foster care are already entitled to the universal 15 hours free childcare and also receive funding and support for the care of their foster child, including a national minimum allowance, and favourable treatment in the tax and benefits system.
 
"We are in the first term of the 30 hours free childcare offer and we will continue to keep the policy and how it works for families, including those fostering, under review."