Full child benefit for kinship children regardless of other children in the home

Background

The government should treat every kinship child as a first child and should not be classed as an additional child when child benefit is calculated.

Additional details

Kinship families do not spend years planning and saving for these children as they may have done if they were their own. We are concerned these families often do not qualify for kinship payments from local authorities based on outdated means-tested finance forms. They save the government thousands of pounds for fostering each year. An only child can become a kinship child and that family receives an additional child payment when its own parents would have received a full first child payment.

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