Kinship Friendly Employer's Scheme
Kinship is the leading kinship care charity, operating across England and Wales. Established in 2002, we have over two decades of experience delivering services, campaigning and leading kinship care research.
Kinship care is when a child is raised by a family member or friend; it keeps children out of the care system and significantly improves the child’s long-term outcomes. Across England and Wales there are approximately 141,000 children growing up in kinship care.
In our 2023 Forced Out report, based on a survey of more than 500 kinship carers, 68% said their employer didn’t offer any support to kinship carers. More than 4 in 10 (41%) kinship carers told us they had to leave work permanently and a further 45% were forced to reduce their working hours.
Kinship care often starts in crisis; there is no time to prepare or make plans. The Kinship Friendly policies of companies such as B&Q, cardfactory, and Lloyd’s Banking Group, mean that from the moment an employee gets a phone-call asking them to take on the care of a child, they know that they will be supported and able to take the time to adjust to their new life.
Katie, who works in HR for cardfactory, became a kinship carer for her niece. She said:
“I was given immediate trust and told that as long as the work got done everything was fine. That made a massive difference to me. (cardfactory) are an inclusive, friendly employer, and they didn’t hesitate to extend paid leave to kinship carers. There’s no reason why kinship carers shouldn’t have parity with adopters or birth parents when it comes to paid leave.”
Our Kinship Friendly Employer scheme has been set up to provide a free framework and toolkit to help any employer introduce policies, procedures and support for their colleagues that can be accommodated by their individual organisation. These policies will support kinship carers in the workforce who want to stay in work to maintain their income, job security and career prospects whilst stepping up to take on caring responsibilities for children they love.
As a starting point, you can access our free Kinship Friendly Employer toolkit by registering here. We will then send you the toolkit which includes template policies, checklists, and guidance for HR and line managers. If you would like to find out more about the scheme, you can email employers@kinship.org.uk.
Social media
Facebook – @Kinshipcarecharity
Instagram – @kinship_charity
X – @kinshipcharity
LinkedIn - @kinship-charity
Website – www.kinship.org.uk
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