Kinship Care Scotland Support Organisations and Helplines

Who Can Help and What They Actually Do

Scotland has a strong network of organisations supporting kinship carers, but knowing which one to call for which problem saves hours of being passed around. Here's what each organisation does, what they can't do, and when to use them.

KCASS — Kinship Care Advice Service Scotland

Phone: 08000 28 22 33 (freephone) Website: kinship.scot Run by: Children First

KCASS is the single most useful phone number for a kinship carer in Scotland. Their advisers understand both the Scottish devolved system and reserved UK benefits, which makes them one of the few services that can see the whole picture rather than just one agency's slice.

What they help with:

• Explaining your rights and entitlements based on your specific arrangement (informal, Section 11, looked after)
• Benefit calculations showing what you should be receiving versus what you are receiving
• Challenging a council's decision or deduction calculation
• Connecting you with local support groups and peer networks
• Emotional support — their team understands the realities of kinship care

Limitations: High call volumes mean you may not get through immediately. They provide advice and advocacy, but they can't submit benefit claims on your behalf or represent you in court.

When to call: As soon as a child is placed with you. Even before you've filled in any forms, a 30-minute call with KCASS can map out which claims to file and in what order. Also call when something looks wrong — a lower-than-expected council payment, a UC deduction you don't understand, or a council refusal you want to challenge.

CPAG — Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland

Website: cpag.org.uk/scotland Phone: 0141 552 3303

CPAG publishes the most legally precise welfare rights information available on kinship care in Scotland. Their factsheets cover Section 11, Section 22, Section 25, UC interactions, council allowance deductions, and the SRA framework in detail.

What they help with:

• Definitive legal analysis of benefit entitlements and council duties
• Welfare rights training materials (often used by council welfare advisers themselves)
• Policy briefings explaining legislative changes that affect kinship carers
• Second-tier advice for welfare rights workers handling complex cases

Limitations: CPAG's materials are written for professional welfare rights advisers, not directly for carers. The language is dense and assumes familiarity with legislation and regulations. They don't typically provide one-to-one advice to individual carers — that's KCASS's role.

When to use: When you need the technical legal authority behind a claim or challenge. If your council says you're not entitled to something and KCASS agrees you should be, CPAG's factsheet is the document your welfare rights adviser or solicitor will reference.

One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS)

Website: opfs.org.uk

OPFS supports single-parent families, and many kinship carers are single — particularly grandparents who've lost a partner or are caring alone.

What they help with:

• Benefit advice tailored to single-carer households
• Employment support (flexible working rights, childcare options)
• Emotional support and peer connections
• Understanding how your kinship status interacts with single-parent benefit rules

When to call: If you're the sole carer and navigating benefits as a single-person household. The interaction between kinship allowances, UC single-person elements, and housing costs is different from a couple claiming jointly.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS)

Website: cas.org.uk Phone: Your local bureau's number (find it on the CAS website)

Your local Citizens Advice Bureau can provide face-to-face welfare rights advice, help you fill in forms, and make benefit calculations. Quality varies by bureau — some have advisers with deep kinship care knowledge, others handle it as general benefits work.

What they help with:

• In-person form-filling assistance (especially useful for older carers who find online systems difficult)
• Benefit calculations and better-off checks
• Mandatory Reconsideration letters for DWP decisions
• Debt advice (if the financial pressure of a new placement has caused debts to build)

When to use: When you want someone sitting next to you helping with paperwork. Book an appointment rather than dropping in — kinship cases need more than 15 minutes.

Your Local Council's Kinship Care Team

Each Scottish local authority handles kinship assessments through its social work services, though the team name can differ. Contact the council's social work service to ask about your kinship allowance application and support.

To find yours: Search "[your council name] kinship care" or call your council's main switchboard and ask for the kinship care team.

Key contacts to establish early:

• Your allocated social worker — the person managing the child's case and your kinship assessment
• The kinship support worker — some councils have dedicated support workers separate from the assessing social worker
• The council's welfare rights service — many councils have an in-house welfare rights team that can check your benefit entitlements at no cost

Specialist Legal and Children's Organisations

• Clan Childlaw — Publishes legal guidance on Section 11 kinship rights. Useful for understanding the child's legal position.
• Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) — Administers legal aid for Section 11 order applications. Directory of registered solicitors at slab.org.uk. Phone: 0131 240 2802.
• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) — Where you escalate if your council's complaints process fails to resolve a kinship allowance dispute. Phone: 0800 377 7330.

Using These Services Together

The most effective approach: call KCASS first to understand your overall entitlements, use your local Citizens Advice Bureau for hands-on form filling, contact CPAG's factsheets (via your welfare rights adviser) if there's a technical dispute, and work with your council's kinship team for the allowance application itself.

Our Scotland Kinship Financial Help Guide pulls the information from all these sources into a single reference — every payment, every agency, every application step — so you spend less time on the phone and more time with the child who needs you.

See more Scotland guides →