Kinship Care: Conditions of Employment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's answer on 15 December 2025 to question 97651, what action she has taken to promote the department's guidance Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers to employers; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the guidance on improving the support employers give to employees who are kinship carers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
‘Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers’ sets out best practice for supporting kinship carers at work, including adapting workplace policies, signposting existing entitlements and creating a supportive workplace culture. We continue to encourage organisations to review the guidance and consider what changes they can make to support kinship carers.
The government recognises the challenges many kinship carers face in balancing work alongside the pressures of taking in and raising a child. Kinship carers are likely to benefit from additional support and flexibility from their employers to aid them in balancing work with providing the best possible care to kinship children. The department has also introduced a kinship leave and pay offer as part of its commitment to being an exemplar employer.
The government's Parental Leave and Pay Review, which will conclude in early 2027, is considering the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers.
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