Special Guardianship Allowance and Child Arrangements Allowance

What are Special Guardianship Allowance and Child Arrangements Allowance?

These allowances provide financial support for people taking care of a child under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) or Child Arrangements Order (CAO). They can help with the cost of taking care of a child or young person.

The amount you could get will depend on your income and spending.

How do I get an allowance?

Your social worker will tell you that you might be eligible for Special Guardian Allowance or Child Arrangement Allowance.

We'll do a financial assessment to decide if you're eligible. The allowance is means-tested, which means the financial assessment will look at your:

• income - how much money you get from work and benefits
• expenditure - how much money you spend

When you fill in the form, you'll need to include:

1. Your details, including your LCS number (if known). This will be on the email the social work team sends you.
2. Details of the children you want to claim the allowance for, including their ID numbers (if known). These will be on the email the social work team sends you.
3. Details of other people in your household.
4. Your income, including wages and any benefits you're getting.
5. Your spending, including rent, Council Tax, and childcare.

We'll send you the assessment form by email or post.

The assessment will be part of your application to the court for a Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangements Order.

If you have not applied yet, contact the children's finance team by calling 01642 726777 (option 6) or emailing childrensfinancialassessments@middlesbrough.gov.uk, and we'll send you a form.

How much will I get?

We look at every application individually, and the amount you're eligible for will depend on your personal circumstances.

The amount you could get will depend on several things:

1. How many children you're caring for under an SGO or CAO.
2. The age of the children.
3. Your weekly income, including Child Benefit and Tax Credit (or the 'child element' of Universal Credit). Please make sure you've applied for these benefits for the children under the SGO or CAO, because they'll be included in your financial assessment.
4. Certain parts of your spending, for example your rent or mortgage, and childcare costs for the child under the SGO or CAO.

We do not include any disability-related benefits in the financial assessment.

The amount you could get will also depend on the age of the children you're caring for.

The maximum rates for 2024-2025 are shown in the table below, for guidance only. You may not get the full amount shown. We'll use the financial assessment to work out how much you're eligible for.

What happens after I've applied?

If your application includes all the information and evidence we need, we'll work out how much you're entitled to.

We'll write to you and tell you how much you're entitled to. This will form part of your Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangement Order.

We'll do a review every year to make sure you're getting the right amount. We'll also do reviews which depend on the child's age.

How will I be paid?

We'll pay you every week. We normally send payments on a Friday, to cover the next week (in other words, from Friday to the following Thursday).

We'll send the payment to the bank account you chose when you applied.

Will you contact me when my annual review is due?

Yes, we'll write to you. You'll need to fill in a review form and provide evidence of your current financial situation.

We'll always contact you before your review date, so you have plenty of time to fill in the review form.

Once you've sent back your form, we'll do an assessment to see if you're still entitled to support. If you are, we'll decide how much.

What happens if I'm overpaid?

If your circumstances change and you do not tell us, we may pay you more than you're entitled to.

If this happens, we'll recover the money from you. This will either be by reducing your future payments, or by sending you an invoice which you'll need to pay.

What if I'm unhappy with the amount I'm going to get?

What other help is there?

Special Guardians have the right to claim benefits for any child they're caring for, including Universal Credit.

Citizens Advice can give you free, impartial advice if you're not sure what you're entitled to.