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Valuing Kinship Care in England

Publication details Research from the Centre for Care, together with the charity Kinship, estimates kinship carers contribute £4.3 billion a year to society

Kinship carers struggling to cope despite £4.3 billion value they add to society

  • New research from the Centre for Care, based at the University of Sheffield, together with the charity Kinship and the University of Manchester, estimates kinship carers contribute £4.3 billion a year to society
  • Data from the new report estimates there are over 132,000 children living in kinship care arrangements in England, many of whom would otherwise be in the care system
  • Unlike foster carers, most kinship carers do not receive financial support from the government
  • Charity Kinship says as many as 1 in 8 kinship carers are facing the real possibility that they will be unable to continue to care for a child due, often due to a lack of financial support
  • The new research underpins Kinship’s #ValueOurLove campaign, which is calling on the UK government to equalise support between kinship families, and foster and adoptive families

citation

Petrillo, M., Zhang, J., Driscoll, B., and Hughes, N. (2025) Valuing Kinship Carers in England. London: Kinship. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34452.00648