Financial help

Moray Council pays a kinship allowance to approved kinship carers. The current weekly allowance per child, before deductions, is:

Kinship carers of Looked After children who claim Child Benefit will have this deducted from their weekly kinship allowance.
Once a Kinship Care Order is granted, your payment changes to Residency Allowance. This is paid up until the young person is 18 if they are in full time education or on a college course.

Scottish Child Payment

This new payment for families on qualifying benefits helps with the costs of looking after a child. Scottish Child Payment is £26.70 a week for each eligible child under the age of 16 and is paid monthly.

To claim the Scottish Child Payment you must be in receipt of one of the following benefits: Child Tax Credit, Income Support, Pension Credit, Working Tax Credit, Universal Credit, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income-related Employment or Support Allowance (ESA).

If you have a Kinship Care Order and are receiving one of the qualifying benefits, you can claim the Scottish Child Payment if the child you care for is Looked After by the local authority and has been placed with you.

Moray Council won’t deduct Scottish Child Payment from your kinship allowance rate.

Funding to support legal costs

If you want to apply for a legal order to secure the child in your care you may be able to get help towards legal expenses. The funding is based on your circumstances, the child’s legal status and eligibility. The Kinship Team can discuss this with you.

You may qualify for legal aid. You should apply through your solicitor who will ask you to fill out an application form, which includes details of your income and savings. The solicitor will then send the form to the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

Full legal aid will cover the cost of the Kinship Order and you won’t have to pay anything towards legal fees.

If you’re awarded partial legal aid and seeking additional financial support from the council or if you’re not entitled to any legal aid, please discuss this with us. You should wait for the outcome of this discussion before petitioning for a Kinship Care Order.

Kinship carers can also get independent legal and financial advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau. For more information see Citizens Advice Bureau - Kinship Care in Scotland.