How social workers can help kinship carers manage impact of tougher benefit rules

By Lynne Thompson
Last year, the government introduced new rules about universal credit which affect kinship carers disproportionately.
It increased the maximum amount of time that a child’s main carer must spend working or engaging in ‘work-related activity’, such as looking for jobs, to be eligible for the benefit.
This has risen from 16 hours a week for carers of three- to four-year-olds, and 25 hours for those looking after five- to 12-year-olds, to 30 hours for both of the