Family Rights Group | Kinship carers’ Forum

Hi All,

Trying to get my head around the Tax elements and I think I have worked out what I need to do in terms of registering for self assessment etc, however I have a conundrum.

Firstly Children came to us in an emergency when we were not approved. We were then approved say 3 months later, now in the guidelines it states to work out the Qualifying amount 1st Element it is worked out pro rata from when you were approved, this is simple and I understand however which date do we use for the 2nd element, is it the same date or the date when we took the children into our care. obviously can make a difference to the number of weeks we should base the calculation on as we would have been receiving allowances etc during the placement and eventual approval.

Help !

Thanks
A* (edited to ensure confidentiality)

Dear sgz501

Thank you for posting and I am sorry that you have not received a response to your post before now due to volume of work.
I see that you are having difficulty with what you say is the tax element of the allowance you receive and the date you should calculate this from. Normally, it would be expected that payment starts from the date a child is placed with the carer.

You may find it helpful to read our advice sheets Support for relatives and friends who are looking after someone else’s child and Social security support for relatives and friends looking after someone else’s child for more information. Alternatively, you could contact the fostering network or your local citizen’s advice bureau.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie