Fostering Payments at Match Foster Care
At Match Foster Care, we’re proud to offer fair, consistent, and reliable fostering payments that recognise the incredible work our foster carers do every day. These payments are designed to support your household and cover the cost of providing a safe, loving, and nurturing environment for a child in your care.
As a family-owned independent fostering agency, we believe in trust and simplicity. That’s why we don’t require you to track every expense or keep piles of receipts. We know that when you buy groceries or plan family activities, some of that naturally includes your foster child. Our fostering allowance gives you the flexibility and peace of mind to focus on what matters most—giving a child a happy, stable home.
Check out our Fostering Finance Calculator to find out more.
How much fostering payment will I receive as a foster carer in the West Midlands?
The exact amount you’ll receive depends on factors like the age and individual needs of the child. As a general guide, you can expect to earn around £25,000 per year for caring for a teenager—with most or all of this income being tax-free. If you foster siblings, your allowance will naturally be higher to reflect the additional care and responsibilities. See our finance calculator Insert Hyperlink to explore other scenarios.
Hear from the People Who Know Us Best
Are Match Foster Care foster carers entitled to any tax relief?
Once you are approved as a Foster Carer with Match, any income that you receive from fostering is subject to a special tax scheme for foster carers called “Qualifying Care Relief” (QCR). This tax scheme gives each fostering household an immediate annual tax-free allowance of £18,140 (for fostering income only), this is in addition to their personal tax allowance. You will also receive a weekly tax-free allowance of £375 when you foster any child up to the age of 10, which increases to £450 per week for any child aged 11 and over.
Examples:
A household that fosters two children, aged 6 & 7 will not pay income tax on £46,400 of their annual fostering income.
A household that fosters two children, aged 6 & 11 will not pay income tax on £48,300 of their annual fostering income.
A household that fosters three children, aged 6, 11 & 12 will not pay income tax on £73,400 of their annual fostering income.
The above figures can be increased by £12,570 should you not use your personal tax allowance for other earnings.
To qualify for the above when you are approved to foster, you will need to register for self-assessment with HMRC and submit a self-assessment tax return each year. This is a straightforward process that our team can easily help you set up and guide you through the submission process each year.
Please also note that the above allowance should not affect any benefits that you may receive, as it is not classed as Income by HMRC when calculating your eligibility for means-tested benefits, such as income support, child tax credit, and housing benefit and more.
If you wish to read more about the type of financial help available to those providing foster homes to children, we encourage you to visit the Gov.UK website.
Alternatively, for any other queries related to fostering payments, please do not hesitate to get in touch. At Match Foster Care our main office is based in Droitwich, however, we have dedicated staff (supervising social workers) who are currently based across the West Midlands.
