Louise* starts her workday getting the children breakfast and ready for school. After drop-off, she attends meetings, completes training and works through a growing pile of paperwork. She\u2019s also on standby as there\u2019s almost always a call to collect a child if there\u2019s been an issue at school. Then there\u2019s everything else that comes with parenting: GP and dentist appointments, buying clothes, arranging therapeutic support, and managing what\u2019s known as \u201ccontact\u201d with the children\u2019s birth parents.<\/p>\n
The problem for Louise, and thousands of foster carers across the country, is that they are not considered to be workers. Although their jobs are vital, this lack of recognition means they have no annual leave, no sick pay and no guarantee they won\u2019t face consequences just for raising concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a 24-hours-a-day job,\u201d said Louise, who has been a foster carer for 14 years. \u201cI\u2019ve had to take children to hospital. I\u2019ve had a particular child who has been bed-wetting, so then I\u2019m up changing beds. Or I\u2019ve got a child that really cannot sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esme*, who has been fostering for more than a decade, <\/strong>said she and her husband had calculated their earnings at just 80p an hour.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must be the most exploited workers in the country,\u201d she said. \u201cWe care 24\/7 for some of society\u2019s most vulnerable children, follow care plans, attend meetings, keep records, do training, be on hand for surprise inspections, yet we have no rights or protections whatsoever. Most foster carers are relying upon universal credit to get by.\u201d<\/p>\n Carers told the Guardian that while the role had professionalised over the past 30 years, pay and conditions had not kept pace.<\/p>\n Chloe*, another foster carer, described the constant fear of children being removed if they raised concerns. When a disciplinary case is opened, \u201cyou just have to back down and pray that it comes out in your favour\u201d.<\/p>\n All three women spoke only on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal from the agencies and local authorities they work with.<\/p>\n In January, three foster carers won a landmark legal case, with a tribunal judge ruling they had the right to bring discrimination and whistleblowing claims to an employment tribunal. Now, they are taking their fight for full employment rights to the supreme court.<\/p>\n Foster carers won a landmark legal case at an employment tribunal earlier this year and will now take their fight further at the supreme court. Photograph: NUPFC<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, they treat these people as glorified babysitters that they can just kick out when they feel like it,\u201d said Robin Findlay, the founder and general secretary of the National Union of Professional Foster Carers (NUPFC). \u201cThat\u2019s why there are more foster carers leaving than there are joining.<\/p>\n \u201cSome local authorities say \u2018well, they\u2019re not employees, so we don\u2019t have to treat them like one. They\u2019re self-employed. We can call them in when we need them and get rid of them when we don\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The NUPFC was launched in 2017 and operates around the clock. \u201cWe have a morning briefing at seven in the morning and a night-time briefing at 10 o\u2019clock at night \u2013 seven days a week,\u201d Findlay said.<\/p>\n He described how carers who repeatedly asked for more support or funding often faced retaliation. \u201cThose on the panel will have been briefed from the start: \u2018We\u2019ve got to get rid of this one, she\u2019s a troublemaker.\u2019 She\u2019s asking too much, more money for shoes, for this and that, and it\u2019s affecting their profit margin.\u201d<\/p>\n