Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Report (1st Day) (Continued)

Clause 5: Information: children in kinship care and their carers

Amendment 29

29: Clause 5, page 10, line 5, at end insert— “(8) Before publishing its kinship local offer (or any updated version) a local authority must—(a) consult relevant persons about any services that are offered, or may be offered, by the local authority which may assist to improve outcomes for children living in the authority’s area who live in kinship care, and(b) publish a report on the consultation.(9) In subsection (8), “relevant persons” in relation to a local authority, means such children living in kinship care, kinship carers and other persons as appear to the local authority to be representative of children living in kinship care and kinship carers in its area, which may include former kinship carers and children who used to be in kinship care.(10) The duty to consult in subsection (8) does not apply in relation to kinship local offers that are published or reviewed before section 5 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 comes into force.”Member’s explanatory statement This amendment would add a new duty for local authorities to consult with children in kinship care, and kinship carers, before the kinship local offer is published.

My Lords, we have heard the concerns raised by noble Lords in Committee, and in the other House, about ensuring that kinship local offers meet the needs of kinship families. Having reflected, we agree that a duty to consult and publish a report of consultation would strengthen the expectations already set out in existing guidance and regulatory frameworks that local authorities should ensure that a kinship local offer remains relevant and responds to the voices of children, young people, and families.

This duty will support those local authorities which are yet to publish their first kinship local offer and ensure that they understand the needs of the kinship families living in their areas and develop a support offer that meets those needs. I beg to move.

My Lords, this is obviously an important issue to us. Although we welcome the Bill’s placing on a statutory footing the extension of virtual school head support to a wider group of children in kinship care, the positive impact of this will be significantly limited due to a lack of accompanying facilities and funding to support the VSH in discharging this duty. In particular, the continued restriction of pupil premium plus funding to only those kinship children currently or previously looked after, in effect, removes one of the most useful tools available to virtual schools to improve educational attainment and progress for groups of vulnerable learners.

In the halcyon days of local government funding and finance, our corporate head of children in care was the director of education, a remarkable man called Colin Hilton. He worked in Knowsley, a borough that neighbours mine, and he came to Liverpool in his role as director. Because money was plentiful, he had a pot of money that he could spend on the children in care as the corporate parent. That was life-changing for those children: they could go on trips and visits, and they could do all sorts of things that they cannot do now because money is still quite tight in local government.

In trying to see how to unlock that opportunity for young children, we looked at the pupil premium in schools and how it has, again, given opportunities to children and young people that perhaps would not have been available otherwise—head teachers and other teachers have that money to use. If we have a virtual school, we have to ask: what is the difference between that and a physical school?

Responding to similar recommendations made by the Education Committee last year, the Government confirmed that they have no plans to extend the pupil premium plus eligibility, because

“there is limited evidence to support such a change and no national data on the number or location of children in informal arrangements”

My Lords, on these Benches, we welcome government Amendment 29.

As the noble Lord, Lord Storey, said about his Amendment 44, there is a gap where the Government have extended the role of virtual school heads but not extended pupil premium plus to children in kinship care. As a minimum movement on this, I wonder whether the Government would consider extending it to kinship children brought within the ambit of the virtual school head, so that children in care have consistent entitlements—that is currently not the case. I assume that the noble Lord will not press Amendment 45 in his name, so I will not speak to that.

I signed the noble Lord’s Amendment 48, on kinship care leave. As the Minister knows, employers are starting to move in this direction. I would be grateful if she could set out what the Government’s plans are here. If any of us were to care for a child of a member of our extended family, expecting comparable leave to be able to settle that child in, just as if one was adopting or fostering, seems only reasonable. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.

My Lords, I will speak very briefly to Amendment 48. As an ex-kinship carer, I know that there are times when it is incredibly stressful, such as when you are dealing with bereavements and all sorts of issues. You will be dealing children who have gone through this and might well have issues, all the way through to learning difficulties. It is incredibly difficult. If we want kinship carers, we need this kind of leave.

I rise to speak to Amendments 44, 45 and 48, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Storey. I will pick up on some of the other issues, as they flow between the amendments. All these amendments speak to the desire, which the Government share with others in this House, to ensure that children in kinship care and their families get the support they need to thrive.

Amendment 44 seeks to extend pupil premium eligibility to pupils in England who are living in kinship care, as the noble Lord outlined. As stated in Committee, we are providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, including pupils looked after or previously looked after by a local authority. Therefore, while kinship arrangements are not part of the pupil premium eligibility, some children in kinship care will attract the pupil premium.

What is more, the pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils who meet the funding criteria. This means that schools can direct spending where the need is greatest, including to pupils with other identified needs. The pupil premium is a discretionary grant, and while there are no plans to place it on a statutory footing, I would like to reassure the noble Lord that we are reviewing how we allocate the pupil premium over the longer term to ensure that it is targeted to those who need it most.

On Amendments 45 and 48, relating to the introduction of financial support for kinship carers and kinship leave, this Government recognise the need to support kinship carers with the financial challenges they experience as well as the difficulties they encounter when trying to work alongside raising a child. In Committee, we said that the department would soon launch a new kinship allowance pilot. I am pleased to share that this will support approximately 4,500 children in kinship care in selected local authorities. The pilot will evaluate the impact of paying a weekly allowance to kinship carers and support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on parental responsibility for a child.

The review will conclude in early 2027 with a set of findings in which the Government will outline next steps for taking any reforms forward to implementation. As the parental leave review will consider the options and principles for an improved system of parental leave and pay as a whole, I cannot overstate the importance of not pre-empting the findings of the review by making provision for kinship carers outside the wider system.

Of course, one of the challenges facing us is the gap in school census data on how many kinship carers we have. So, I am pleased to share that the Department for Education is planning to add kinship to the school census data collection. Improved data on children living in kinship arrangements will support future policy development, and we will be happy to return to the House in due course to provide further updates.

This Government are committed to improving outcomes for those in kinship care and are already working to deliver on this commitment.

Amendment 29 agreed.

Amendment 30 not moved.

Amendment 31