Benefits for Kinship Carers in Wales: A Complete Checklist

One of the first questions relatives ask when a child arrives in their home is "what benefits can I actually claim?" The answer depends on whether you have a legal order, but even informal kinship carers in Wales can access more support than most people realise. Here is every relevant benefit, who qualifies, and what to watch out for.

Child Benefit

If you hold a Special Guardianship Order, you can claim Child Benefit from HMRC. The SGO gives you parental responsibility, and the sealed order can show HMRC why your claim takes priority over a birth parent's claim. Only one person can receive Child Benefit for a child; if you cannot agree who should claim, HMRC decides. If you have a Child Arrangements Order (live-with), you can also claim — send the order and a cover letter explaining the child lives with you.

Informal carers without a court order can still claim Child Benefit if the child lives with them and they are responsible for the child's upkeep. Only one person can receive it. If a birth parent's claim is active and you cannot agree who should claim, HMRC decides; you do not need to wait for a court order to make a claim.

For 2026/27, Child Benefit is £27.05 per week for the eldest child and £17.90 for each additional child. It is not means-tested.

Universal Credit Child Element

If you receive Universal Credit, you can add the child element for a child who normally lives with you. The two-child limit ended on 6 April 2026, so Universal Credit now pays the extra amount for every child, regardless of family size.

Report the change of circumstances through your Universal Credit account. For 2026/27, the child element is £303.94 per month for each child. If your first child was born before 6 April 2017, an extra £47.94 per month applies for that child.

One important detail: your local authority SGO allowance is calculated after deducting the UC child element. This means claiming UC does not give you double support — it offsets the council payment. But you should still claim it, because UC carries other entitlements (such as the housing element) that the SGO allowance alone does not; Council Tax Reduction is a separate local-authority claim.

Guardian's Allowance

Guardian's Allowance is a separate HMRC benefit of £22.95 per week in 2026/27, paid on top of Child Benefit. It applies when both of the child's parents have died. In some circumstances it is also payable when one parent has died and the surviving parent is imprisoned (sentenced to two years or more), permanently incapacitated, or missing.

Guardian's Allowance is widely under-claimed because carers assume it only applies after a death. If the birth parent's circumstances fit one of the exception categories, check your eligibility with HMRC directly.

Tax Credits (Ended)

Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit ended on 5 April 2025. You cannot make a new claim, and no more tax credit payments are made. Older guidance about adding a child to a Tax Credit claim or the two-child limit applies to periods before tax credits ended; check current support through Universal Credit.

Pension Credit and National Insurance Credits

Grandparents and older relatives who give up work or reduce hours to care for a child can apply for Specified Adult Childcare Credits, which transfer National Insurance credits from the Child Benefit claimant to the carer for State Pension purposes. This is a commonly missed benefit for grandparents who are not yet drawing their State Pension.

If you are already of State Pension age and on a low income, check whether you qualify for Pension Credit — having a child in the household may affect the assessment.

What Comes Next

This checklist covers the main UK-wide benefits. Wales also offers devolved support — council tax reductions, free school meals, the Pupil Development Grant, the Discretionary Assistance Fund, and local authority SGO allowances — each of which has its own eligibility rules and application process.

For a full walkthrough of every benefit and allowance available to kinship carers in Wales, including the means-tested local authority SGO allowance and how these benefits interact with each other, the Kinship Care in Wales guide puts everything in one place with Welsh-specific figures and worksheets.

See more Wales guides →