The Scottish Government has accused UK ministers of having “completely failed to act” amid fears kinship carers are being forced to sell their homes to financially survive due to having no right to employment leave.

SNP Children and Young People Minister, Natalie Don, has penned a letter to the UK Government, raising concerns that new guidance does not provide statutory leave for kinship carers – calling for a “fair deal” for those entrusted to look after young people.

Kinship carers are a relative or friend who isn’t their parent who look after a child full-time or most of the time, usually because their parents are unable to care for them.

Around half of kinship carers are grandparents.

In August last year, the Scottish Government introduced an allowance for foster and kinship carers – with those eligible receiving at least a standard, national allowance.

Ms Don has stressed that kinship carers have repeatedly raised the issue of statutory leave and was a recommendation of the independent review of children’s social care, published in May 2022.

Statutory leave for kinship carers is reserved to the UK Government.

The SNP minister has appealed to UK Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch to implement statutory leave rules after it was absent from new guidance Tory ministers have published for kinship carers and is only based on “the goodwill of the employer”.

Ms Don said: “The UK Government has completely failed to act and too many kinship carers are suffering as a result – with heartbreaking examples of carers having to leave employment and even being forced to sell their homes to make ends meet.

“This is a completely unacceptable way to treat people who make such an important contribution to our society. The UK Government need to end the delays and implement these changes immediately to provide a fair deal for kinship carers.

“Failure to do so would be another example of how the UK Government’s values are completely opposed to the values of people in Scotland – and shows why decisions like these should be made in Scotland, with the full powers of independence.”

Dr Lucy Peake, CEO of kinship care charity, Kinship, has said the UK Government’s strategy has “delivered long-awaited recognition of kinship carers who have demonstrated, for decades, the value of raising children within their family network”.

But she warned that “the investment and commitments made in the strategy fall short of the ambitious and wholesale reform needed to establish a new kinship care system”.

In her letter, Ms Don warned that she was “disappointed that family leave for kinship carers remains entirely dependent on the goodwill of the employer to ensure kinship carers, whose circumstances often change without notice, are given paid time off work to help the children they care for adjust to their new environment”.

She added: “Kinship carers have advised my officials that because there is no statutory leave, which is offered to other carers such as adoptive parents, some kinship carers have been forced to leave employment.

“Some, who were fortunate enough to own their homes, have also been forced to sell their house to make ends meet, forcing them into poverty. This is unacceptable.

“The Scottish Government wants to ensure kinship carers are not penalised for taking in their kin. Given the vital role they play in providing a loving, safe and stable home, I believe it is imperative that kinship carers are treated on an equal par with all parents eligible for parental leave.”

I would, therefore, ask for an urgent update on the implementation of the recommendation regarding statutory leave in relation to kinship carers, and call on you to make these changes immediately.”

The UK Government was contacted for comment but instead pointed to remarks made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday when he highlighted the “incredible work” of kinship carers.

He added: “We are looking at ways we can support them further and we will continue to do so.”