Responding to the announcement by the Scottish Government of the establishment of a core group to 'review foster, kinship and adoption allowances to bring forward proposals for national kinship care and foster care allowances in summer 2018', Sara Lurie, director of The Fostering Network in Scotland, said: 'The Fostering Network has been campaigning for many years for the introduction of a minimum fostering allowance in Scotland. A fostering allowance is the money foster carers receive to cover the cost of caring for a child or young person who they are fostering. It is something that the Scottish Government has been promising for over a decade and, by introducing such an allowance, it will simply be bringing Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.

'We are delighted to see that the Scottish Government has now established a core group to make recommendations regarding the allowance, and that we have been invited to be part of that group.

'We strongly urge the Scottish Government to ensure that foster carers from across Scotland are consulted by the core group. Additionally, we would like to see the Scottish Government make a firm commitment to action so that once the group makes recommendations next summer a decision can be made in time for the introduction of a minimum allowance by April 2019.

'Until there is a national minimum fostering allowance, the Scottish Government perpetuates a postcode lottery of care, and that is simply not fair on those who dedicate their lives to caring for children who cannot live with their birth parents, nor on the children and young people themselves.'