Peterborough Advocates for Inclusion in Kinship Care Funding Trial

Leaders of Peterborough’s council, alongside Members of Parliament, have advocated for the city’s participation in a pilot program designed to offer financial assistance to kinship carers. The Labour-led council communicated this request in a letter to Children’s Minister Janet Daby MP, asserting that the city’s substantial population of children in care would gain from placements with family members. On October 30, the government unveiled a £44 million allocation in the Budget, earmarked for a trial offering financial aid to relatives who provide care for children unable to reside with their parents. While the charity Kinship applauded this initiative, it cautioned that the trial should not impede the broader implementation of financial allowances. Kinship estimates that approximately 141,000 children across England and Wales are currently in kinship care, defined as being looked after by a family member or a friend. The pilot program detailed in the Budget is set to encompass 10 local authority regions. The correspondence dispatched by Peterborough City Council implores the government to consider the city for inclusion among these areas. Signatories include Labour council leader Dennis Jones, six additional prominent cabinet members, and the city’s two Labour Members of Parliament, Sam Carling and Andrew Pakes. The letter highlights Peterborough’s status as “the second fastest growing city in the UK” and notes its existing challenges within the children’s care sector. Furthermore, the letter conveys the council’s “confidence that our involvement in any pilot programme will drive meaningful change for our children”. Following the Budget announcement, Sam Carling MP expressed his approval of the funding commitment in the House of Commons. He characterized the matter as “a subject close to my heart and to those of my Labour colleagues on Peterborough City Council”. He further stated that kinship carers perform “a tremendous and critical job that too often goes unnoticed”.