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This week we’re talking about something that affects every foster carer at some point… continued pay.
And your feedback is crucial, so that the government understand how much this matters to you.
We’re asking what should happen when:
📌 An allegation means you can’t foster.
📌 There’s a gap between children being placed.
📌 You need to take a planned break.
When fostering is your primary commitment, you can’t simply find another job overnight because an allegation is made or because no child has been placed. Equally, if you need a break, you shouldn’t be forced to work elsewhere just to pay the bills.
At the moment, it’s largely a postcode lottery.
We believe that if you’re a fully approved and registered foster carer, you should receive continued pay whenever you have no one to foster for reasons outside your control.
Over the coming week, we’ll be looking at each of these situations in more detail.
We’d really like to hear your experiences. Has this happened to you? What do you think is fair?
Please share this post with your fostering friends and colleagues so we can hear as many voices as possible.
Join us: https://nupfc.com/join/
Date: 29/06/2026
This week we’re talking about continued pay, today on pay during allegations.
Did you know there is no national policy on what happens to your income if an allegation is made?
Some fostering services continue paying carers for weeks or even months. Others reduce payments quickly or stop them altogether. In many cases, it depends entirely on where or for who you foster.
Yet allegations often take months to conclude.
That means an approved foster carer, who may ultimately be completely exonerated, can spend months without a stable income through no fault of their own.
For people who are expected to be available 24/7 for children, and who often can’t simply take another job at short notice, that creates huge financial and emotional pressure.
We’d really like to hear from you.
🔹 Do you know what your fostering service’s policy is?
🔹 Have you ever had to rely on it?
🔹 Were you paid throughout an allegation, paid in part, or not at all?
🔹 Do you think there should be a statutory regulation in law for continued pay?
Please comment below or message us privately if you’d rather not share publicly.
We’d also appreciate it if you could share this post with other foster carers so we can build a clearer picture of what’s happening across the country.
Join us: https://nupfc.com/join/
Date: 30/06/2026
Should foster carers be able to take a paid break?
If you’ve spent months or years caring for children around the clock, should taking a short planned break mean losing your income?
The National Minimum Standards say every fostering service must have a policy about payments during a break in placement.
What they don’t do is set a national standard for what that policy should be.
Some fostering services continue payments during planned respite or short breaks, others reduce or stop payments after a certain number of days.
The result? Another postcode lottery.
The irony is that everyone agrees foster carers need breaks to prevent burnout and keep placements stable. Planned breaks are recognised as good practice because it helps carers continue providing high quality care.
Yet in some services, taking that break can mean a significant financial loss, some will pay for 2 weeks, but is that in full?
We’d love to hear from you.
🔹 Does your fostering service pay you if you take a planned break?
🔹 Do you actually know what your policy says?
🔹 Have you ever avoided taking respite because you couldn’t afford it?
Please comment below or message us privately. The more experiences we gather, the clearer the national picture becomes.
Don’t delay join today, as just like car insurance you have to be a member when anallegation happens: https://nupfc.com/join/
Date: 01/07/2026
So what should “continuous pay” actually look like?
Right now, most systems assume pay stops when a placement stops, that only works if fostering allowance is just “child spend”.
It isn’t. For most carers it also covers:
• Housing costs
• Utilities and household overheads
• Transport and readiness
• The requirement to be available 24/7
When placements end, or allegations arise, income often drops to zero overnight, but carers can’t just replace that income at short notice.
A fairer model would separate:
◆ Retainer – continuous base payment for approved, available carers
◆ Care payment – per child, linked to needs and daily care
◆ Continuity rules –
• Allegations: pay continues until outcome
• Placement gaps: pay continues until new child
• Planned breaks: pay continues throughout break
This separates availability from delivery, instead of switching income on and off.
Interested in views: does this better reflect reality?
Comment below 👇 or message, or email enquiries@nupfc.com
And don’t forget to join us if you are not already a member: https://nupfc.com/join/
Date: 02/07/2026
What happens to pay between placements… and what does that actually do to carers?
This is one of the hardest parts of fostering that rarely gets talked about properly.
When a child leaves, many carers are suddenly left with:
• No placement
• No income
• And no realistic way to replace that income
Because you can’t just go and get another job overnight, and because the moment a placement becomes available, you’re expected to be available immediately.
That’s the nature of fostering.
So in reality, “between placements” isn’t free time. It’s on-call availability without income stability.
And for many carers, those gaps can last weeks… sometimes months. Some report 3–6 months without a placement at all.
Yet during that time bills don’t pause, mortgages or rents don’t pause and the commitment to the service doesn’t pause
So carers are left in a position where they are expected to remain fully available, fully approved, and fully responsive… with no income coming in.
There is another issue in agencies, each carer puts a value of some £250k on the value of the agency, whether they have a placement or not, so agencies recruit anyone they can, regardless of if they always have enough children in their care to go around.
In other words they ‘stockpile’ carers.
And if fostering becomes something only people with independent wealth can sustain, we lose a huge part of the workforce overnight.
So we’re asking:
What should happen during placement gaps? And how do we stop experienced carers being financially pushed out of the system they’re needed in?
Date: 03/07/2026
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IMPORTANT WARNING FOR ALL FOSTER CARERS Did you know that non‑conviction information — including allegations, opinions, and even mental health detentions — can now be added to your Enhanced DBS?
One of our members recently contacted us after finding deeply worrying information online about what can be disclosed:
Arrests or allegations that never led to charges Ongoing investigations Fixed Penalty Notices if deemed “relevant” Section 136 mental health detentions Cautions, warnings, reprimands that aren’t filtered AND the DBS can bar you from working with children or adults even without a convictionAt the National Union of Professional Foster Carers (NUPFC), we are seeing this happen more and more — and yes, you should be concerned.
In today’s increasingly authoritarian climate, police forces can add information to your DBS based on third‑party opinions, not proven facts.
This is why every incident in your life must be documented and evidenced — and why membership BEFORE anything goes wrong is absolutely vital.
If incorrect information appears on your DBS:
Apply immediately to the Chief of Police in the area where it was added
If they refuse to correct it, you may need to appeal to the Upper Tribunal 
This process is expensive and rarely covered by insurance
NUPFC members have access to specialist DBS lawyers who can help you challenge incorrect or unfair disclosures — but only if you are already a member when the issue arises.
Protect yourself. Protect your career. Join today: