What Benefits Can a Kinship Carer Claim in the UK?

When you take on someone else's child — whether you are a grandparent, an aunt, a sibling or a family friend — the benefit system does not hand you a single guide to everything you can claim. The payments come from three different agencies (HMRC, DWP and your local council), and each has its own forms, its own eligibility rules and its own waiting times. Here is the full picture for kinship carers across the UK.

National Benefits From HMRC

Child Benefit is the first thing to claim. It pays £27.05 per week for the eldest or only child and £17.90 for each additional child (2026/27 rates). You do not need a court order — if the child lives with you, you have priority over anyone else. Claim on Form CH2 from GOV.UK.

Guardian's Allowance adds £22.95 per week per child. It is non-means-tested, non-contributory and tax-free. The standard rule requires both of the child's parents to have died, but five statutory exceptions cover situations where one parent has died and the surviving parent's whereabouts were unknown when the other parent died despite reasonable tracing efforts, the surviving parent is in prison (2+ years) or detained under a qualifying hospital order lasting at least 2 years, the mother has died and the parents were unmarried when the child was born with paternity not established, or the parents divorced/dissolved with no custody, no maintenance and no court maintenance order. Claim on Form BG1. You can submit Form CH2 and BG1 together, but Child Benefit entitlement must be established before Guardian's Allowance can be paid.

Many kinship carers miss Guardian's Allowance entirely because they assume it requires both parents to be dead. If your situation involves a surviving parent who fits one of those exceptions, it is worth checking. The benefit can be backdated up to 3 months.

Means-Tested Benefits From DWP

Universal Credit — if you are working age and qualify, taking on a child who normally lives with you can add a child element to your UC award. In 2026/27, this is £303.94 per month per child, or £351.88 for a first child born before 6 April 2017. Guardian's Allowance and Child Benefit are both fully disregarded — they do not reduce your UC at all.

Pension Credit — if you are over State Pension age and qualify, the child addition is £69.98 per week in 2026/27, or £81.07 for a first child born before 6 April 2017. Again, Guardian's Allowance is fully disregarded.

Carer's Allowance — if the child has a disability and receives the middle or higher rate of DLA care component (or PIP daily living), you may qualify for £86.45 per week in 2026/27. This can be claimed alongside Guardian's Allowance with no overlap deduction, though it counts as income for Universal Credit. The earnings limit is £204 per week after tax, National Insurance and expenses. In Scotland, apply for Carer Support Payment instead.

Local Authority Payments

This is where it gets complicated, because every council is different.

Kinship care allowances may be paid when a child is formally placed with a relative by the local authority as a "looked after" child. Councils may also offer support under other formal kinship orders and local policies. Rates vary by council. In Scotland, a national minimum rate aligned with fostering allowances applies. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, rates are at the council's discretion.

Special Guardianship Order allowances are available if you hold an SGO (or Kinship Care Order in Scotland). These are means-tested and reviewed regularly. In England and Wales, local authority financial assessments for SGO and Child Arrangements Order allowances generally treat Child Benefit and Guardian's Allowance as deductible household income, reducing the net allowance. Scottish guidance instructs councils to deduct Child Benefit and Universal Credit child elements from Kinship Care Allowances, but not Guardian's Allowance or Scottish Child Payment.

If the child is not formally looked after and you do not have a court order, you are an informal kinship carer. Some councils offer one-off settling-in grants or emergency payments for informal carers. Local help depends on the council; there is no single UK-wide allowance.

What You Cannot Claim

Guardian's Allowance cannot be paid if both parents are alive, even if both have abandoned the child. At least one parent must have died. If you are raising a child whose living parents cannot or will not care for them, your route is Child Benefit, Universal Credit child elements and local authority kinship allowances — but not Guardian's Allowance.

An approved foster carer caring for a local-authority "Looked After" child cannot claim Guardian's Allowance, Child Benefit or the Universal Credit child element for that child.

Where to Start

If the parental conditions are met, you can submit Child Benefit Form CH2 and Guardian's Allowance Form BG1 together. Child Benefit entitlement must be established before Guardian's Allowance can be paid.

Our UK Guardian's Allowance guide covers the full BG1 process, document requirements and surviving parent exception rules — the part of the claim that trips up the most kinship carers.

See more United Kingdom guides →