Fostering Payments with Match Foster Care
What are fostering payments?
At Match Foster Care, we are committed to providing fair and reliable fostering payments to all of our foster carers. The fostering payments serve an important purpose. They are designed to support foster families and alleviate the costs of giving a loving home and caring for a young individual. We are proud to recognise the essential work you do every day as part of a family-owned foster care agency in the UK.
At Match, we donāt expect you to explain how every penny is spent in relation to your fostering. When you buy household groceries some of the allowance will inevitably be spent on your foster child. Instead, we provide you with enough funds to provide a happy and fulfilling family life for a foster child. That means you donāt have to spend hours completing paperwork or keeping receipts.
How much fostering payment will I receive as a foster carer in the West Midlands?
The exact payment will depend upon the age and needs of the child. As a general indication, you can expect to earn Ā£25,000 a year for looking after a teenager. When weighing up your household costs, always remember that this is likely to be tax-free. See our finance calculator to explore other scenarios.
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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 āQualifying Care Reliefā (QCR). This tax scheme gives each fostering household an immediate annual tax-free allowance of Ā£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 Ā£375 when you foster any child up to the age of 10, which increases to Ā£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 Ā£46,400 of their annual fostering income.
A household that fosters two children, aged 6 & 11 will not pay income tax on Ā£48,300 of their annual fostering income.
A household that fosters three children, aged 6, 11 & 12 will not pay income tax on Ā£73,400 of their annual fostering income.
The above figures can be increased by Ā£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.
