What better way for you to discover more about the fostering allowance than from the people who receive it?
Like you’re doing right now, many of our foster carers had to take a careful look at how they would manage financially on foster carer pay. Their feedback should reassure you that the foster carer allowance you receive from National Fostering Group will give you a decent standard of living and as much financial stability as we can provide.
Each of the foster carers quotes below have previously worked for other independent fostering agencies and local authorities before they transferred to us – so they have a benchmark for comparison.
“We moved over to National Fostering Group around 2 years ago now. The difference in our weekly fostering allowance with National Fostering Group and our previous fostering agency is significant.
“We love what we do and would never see ourselves doing anything different. However, my wife gave up a full time job as a teacher to be the main foster carer. Therefore, it was important to us to know we would receive a fostering allowance that would allow us to provide a stable environment for a child.
“We also get a pay increase every year with our agency, which is a nice gesture and something our previous agency never did.”
“With the fostering allowance, you can work your way up to different levels. The more training and experience you have, the more you see an increase in your weekly allowance.
“We have worked our way up from level 1 to level 5 in 7 years. We like this system, as it shows we are being rewarded for our loyalty, skills and experience.”
“We are not told in a strict way how to spend the fostering allowance, this is your decision. You need to make sure the child’s needs are covered, as well as your own, such as household bills.
“The typical things we use the fostering allowance for is clothing, toys, books and school supplies, birthday and Christmas gifts, after school clubs or activities the children want to take part in, going on family holidays with the children and days out.
“The young people all get weekly pocket money put into their savings. This is done by the agency, which is fantastic as it means the child will have a little nest egg ready for when it is time for them to move into adulthood.”
“One good benefit we get from National Fostering Group is the Max Card. This gives us discounts on family days out, trips to theme parks and fun activities – it has saved us a fortune over the years!”
“Our assessing social worker was very honest with us from the start around the fostering allowance. I was giving up full time work to foster, so I did need to ask about finances.
“I never felt uncomfortable or that I was asking a taboo question. It’s important you ask any questions you have, our agency didn’t frown upon this and made us feel at ease.”
“Here we are, 21 years later, 25 children later and no looking back. I could never imagine doing anything else.”
You probably still have questions about the fostering allowance and about transferring to us or becoming a foster carer for the first time.
We’re more than happy to answer them – get in touch via our enquiry form and a member of your local team will give you a call.
