Between 2019 and 2020, there were almost 2,500 complaints made against foster carers, of which 63% were made by fostered children against their own carers, says business development lead
Financial and Legal Insurance (FLI) has launched a specialist legal expenses insurance (LEI) product for foster carers.
The scheme will be distributed via London market broker Circle Insurance Services to its client Cass-Stephens – a Gloucester-based broker.
It will provide legal expenses cover in the event that Cass-Stephens’ foster agency clients are subject to complaints relating to foster care as well as loss of earnings cover for the foster parents.
Ian Kember, FLI’s business development lead, who has adopted a child, said his personal knowledge of the sector was a key factor behind the product.
He said: “Fostering children is a high pressure job and carers who receive complaints face significant reputational risk, as well as loss of earnings.
“Circle came to us asking for help to develop a product that, as well as covering legal expenses, also protected agency members against loss of earnings.
“Our product is the first in this specialist field to include cover for loss of earnings. It costs £100 and will be offered via the broker, Cass-Stephens, to members of the fostering agency they look after.
”Many foster parents rely on their earnings from fostering for their income and cannot afford to lose their livelihoods.”
Supporting a ’socially essential role’
According to Kember, between 2019 and 2020 there were almost 2,500 complaints made against foster carers, of which 63% were made by fostered children against their own foster carers. In 2018 to 2019, this proportion was 65%.
Kember said there is 20% chance that a foster carer will get a complaint during their career.
Nicola Bradshaw, account handler at Circle Insurance Services, added: “It’s great that FLI has been able to step in and provide this service for foster carers.
”The cover will be moulded into a package of products and offered to agency members via [a] monthly subscription. [The agency expects] to see [a] 90% take up of this insurance among [its] members and will use it to attract new members to the agency.
“The FLI team really understood what was required and that experience has enabled us to provide our client [with] a product which [it believes] will help improve the chances of bringing candidates [in] to do this socially essential role.”
In the UK, fostering services are provided by local authorities (LAs) or via independent fostering agencies (IFAs).
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