Looked After Child Kinship Allowance in Scotland

What "Looked After" Means for Your Kinship Allowance

A child is legally "looked after" in Scotland when a local authority accommodates them under Section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, when a Children's Hearing places them on a Compulsory Supervision Order (CSO) or Interim CSO, or when they are subject to a Permanence Order under the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. If you're a kinship carer in one of these arrangements, this status directly shapes what you're paid — and by whom.

The key distinction: when a child is looked after, the local council pays a gross kinship care allowance at the full Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) rate, without deducting Child Benefit or Universal Credit child elements. That's because you can't claim the UC child element for a looked-after child — the council covers the full cost instead.

The 2026–27 SRA rates are:

• Ages 0–4: £177.68 per week
• Ages 5–15: £206.71 per week
• Ages 16–17: £283.35 per week

These match the foster care maintenance rate, which is the whole point of the SRA framework introduced in 2023 — to create parity between foster carers and eligible kinship carers across all 32 Scottish councils.

Regulation 33 and Your Entitlement

Under Regulation 33 of the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, your council formally approves you as a kinship carer. Once approved, you have a legal entitlement to a regular allowance.

The approval process involves a social work assessment. Renfrewshire Council's published assessment period is up to 12 weeks; ask your council about its own timeline. If you are waiting for an assessment, ask your social worker about interim payments under Section 22 of the 1995 Act — a separate statutory power that lets the council pay maintenance to safeguard a child's welfare while the formal assessment runs.

The Assessment: What to Expect

The council determines whether the placement and applicant meet the relevant criteria. Its evidence requirements can include identity and relationship documents, legal and care-status records, proof of current benefit awards, and bank details. Ask your council which checks and visits it will carry out in your case.

Bring a folder with your documents ready from day one: birth certificates establishing your relationship to the child, the CSO or Section 25 documentation, proof of benefits you already receive, and bank details for BACS payments. Organised paperwork speeds up the process.

Financial Responsibility Stays With the Originating Council

One detail that catches carers off guard: if you move to a different council area while caring for a looked-after child, financial responsibility stays with the council that made the placement, not the one where you now live. This is different from Section 11 Kinship Care Orders, where responsibility transfers to the new host council.

So if Glasgow City Council placed the child with you and you later move to Renfrewshire, Glasgow still pays your allowance. You'd still access local services in Renfrewshire (school, GP), but your kinship payment comes from Glasgow's social work budget.

What Happens When Looked-After Status Ends

Looked-after status doesn't last forever. If the Children's Hearing discharges the CSO and you obtain a Section 11 Kinship Care Order (residence order) instead, the child stops being looked after — and the financial rules change.

Under a Section 11 order, you qualify for Part 13 Kinship Care Assistance if the child was previously looked after or assessed as "at risk of becoming looked after." The council still pays an allowance based on the SRA, but now it deducts Child Benefit and UC child elements (which you can claim once the child is no longer looked after). Your net council payment will be lower, but your total household income stays similar because those deducted benefits go directly to you instead.

The transition needs careful timing. Claim Child Benefit via Form CH2 and update your Universal Credit journal as soon as the CSO is discharged — delays create gaps where the council has already reduced your allowance but HMRC hasn't started paying Child Benefit yet.

Getting the Full Picture

The relationship between looked-after status, your court order, and your allowance is one of the trickiest parts of kinship care finance in Scotland. Our Scotland Kinship Financial Help Guide walks through every placement type and its financial consequences, with worked examples showing the exact weekly calculations for each arrangement. It includes a deduction audit worksheet so you can verify your council is calculating your net allowance correctly.

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