Kinship

What Kinship does

Kinship is the leading UK charity supporting kinship carers — friends or family members (most commonly grandparents, but also siblings, aunts, uncles, step-parents, and family friends) who raise children when biological parents are unable to due to death, illness, imprisonment, addiction, or neglect. Founded in 2001 (as Grandparents Plus, rebranded to Kinship in 2022) and headquartered in London, the organization serves an addressable population of 141,000+ children in kinship care across England and Wales, with active expansion into Scotland via a partnership with Inspiring Scotland. Core service delivery is built on a digital platform (kinship.org.uk) combined with human-staffed channels: a free national advice line, the Kinship Compass local-support finder, 160+ online and in-person peer support groups, the Someone Like Me telephone peer-matching service, and 126+ free workshops annually. The organization also operates the Kinship Friendly Employer scheme, a B2B framework adopted by employers including B&Q, Tesco, Lloyds Banking Group, and others to support employee kinship carers.

The underlying technology is a non-proprietary digital service delivery stack — a WordPress-based CMS website, a location-based search tool, email community infrastructure, and a podcast distribution channel — augmented by structured referral pipelines through 40 commissioned local authorities and a professional network of 1,715+ social workers and 75 researchers. The organization runs the largest annual survey of kinship carers in the UK (1,900+ respondents in 2025) and co-publishes research with academic partners including The Rees Centre at Oxford University and The Centre for Care, providing a proprietary evidence base used for policy advocacy and service design.

Kinship is a registered charity (number 1093975) and company limited by guarantee (company number 4454103), operating under the working name "Kinship" while retaining Grandparents Plus as its legal entity. It is not venture-backed and reports no parent company. Revenue is generated through a diversified mix of charitable grants from trusts and foundations (BBC Children in Need, Comic Relief, City Bridge Foundation, Postcode Lottery, The Mercers Company, Prudence Trust, The Ballinger Charitable Trust, KPMG Foundation), government funding (Department for Education), commissioned service contracts with 40 local authorities across England and Wales, individual donations (via the Raisely/JustGiving donation platform), and emerging corporate partnerships through the Kinship Friendly Employer scheme. All services are provided free to kinship carers; the organization measures impact in operational terms (2,374 advice calls in 2022, 182 Someone Like Me matches in 2022, 160+ peer support groups, 15,000+ carers supported annually) and cites a £4.3 billion annual economic contribution by kinship carers as evidence of the systemic stakes.

Name

Kinship

Legal name

Grandparents Plus

Website

https://kinship.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Kinship is the leading UK charity for kinship carers — family or friends raising children when parents cannot. Founded in 2001, it delivers free advice, 160+ peer support groups, workshops, employer partnerships, and policy advocacy across England and Wales, with active Scotland expansion.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Kinship Care Support Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Child and Youth Services (62411)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Parenting Support Services (BPAGAEAC)

Keywords

• Kinship care support
• Family caregiver services
• Peer support groups
• Advice line charity
• Community-led advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Funding and Grants: Primary revenue from trusts, foundations, lottery funding, and government grants including Department for Education funding, National Lottery Community Fund, and corporate foundations.
2. Donations and Fundraising: Individual donations and fundraising activities including JustGiving platform donations to support services for kinship families.
3. Commissioned Services: Local authority commissioning of kinship support programmes including one-to-one support and peer support groups. 40 local authorities had commissioned services by 2023.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Kinship is the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales, providing free advice, peer support, workshops, and emotional support services to kinship carers—relatives or friends who step up to raise a child when parents are unable to. The organisation delivers a national advice line, over 160 peer support groups, specialist workshops, the Kinship Compass location-based support finder, and the Someone Like Me telephone peer-matching service. It also runs commissioned programmes for local authorities and the Kinship Friendly Employer workplace scheme.

Product overview

Kinship is a charity organization offering a portfolio of support services for kinship carers across England and Wales. The core offering consists of an Advice Team/Advice Line providing specialist guidance, Peer Support Groups (160+ groups nationwide) enabling peer connections, Kinship Compass for local support discovery, Someone Like Me for emotional peer matching, and Free Workshops/Events for skill-building. The Kinship Together Podcast delivers educational content via audio. Supporting products include the Kinship Friendly Employer Scheme (workplace policy framework), Young Champions (teen support project), Kinship Minds (therapeutic approaches), Walk with Me (wellbeing initiative), Online Advice Collections covering all kinship care topics, the #ValueOurLove Campaign for policy advocacy, and annual Kinship Care Week awareness events. Kinship Community serves as the email membership program tying these services together.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kinship Advice Team and Advice Line

Quantifiable outcome

• Supported 15,000+ kinship carers annually
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Inspiring ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to strengthen support for kinship families in West Dunbartonshire - Kinship's first step into delivering direct support to kinship families in Scotland.
• Foundations – What Works Centre for Children & FamiliescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for pilot trial of the Kinship Connected navigator programme, working with Centre for Evidence and Implementation and Ipsos.
• The Centre for CarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint publication of Valuing Kinship Care research highlighting £4.3 billion economic contribution.
• Professor Julie Selwyn and Dr Priya Tah, The Rees Centre at Oxford UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for Raised by Relatives research on Black and Asian kinship carers.
• B&QcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerFirst major high-street retailer to become Gold Standard Kinship Friendly Employer, offering 6 weeks at 100% pay and 33 weeks at 50% pay for kinship carers.
• TescocoreGTM or Marketing PartnerFirst UK supermarket to give special guardian kinship carers same support as adoptive parents - 26 weeks leave on full pay.
• Lloyds Banking GroupcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGold Standard Kinship Friendly Employer offering 52 weeks leave, 26 weeks at full pay and 13 weeks at statutory rate.
• cardfactoryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEqualized kinship care and maternity leave, offering same enhanced entitlements.
• The Education AllianceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFirst multi academy trust to become Gold Standard Kinship Friendly Employer.
• ILF ScotlandminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFirst Scottish Gold Standard Kinship Friendly Employer, introduced paid leave matching adoption leave.
• BKLminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold-standard Kinship Friendly Employer matching paid kinship carer leave to statutory adoptive leave.
• CorrelaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold Standard Kinship Friendly Employer offering 26 weeks fully paid leave for birth, adoption, surrogacy and kinship care.
• Cognus LimitedminorGTM or Marketing PartnerKinship Friendly Employer supporting colleagues who are kinship carers.
• Surviving Economic AbuseminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAdded kinship carers to Family Leave Policy at same level as statutory adoption leave.
• Scottish GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-branded Kinship Friendly Employer scheme toolkit adapted for Scottish employers.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Family Action: Long-established UK family support charity delivering advice, befriending, and peer support services to families facing disadvantage. Comparable as a national charity combining direct family support services with local authority commissioning and policy advocacy.
• Family Lives: UK charity providing helpline support, peer communities, and advice for families in challenging circumstances. Directly comparable as a family-support charity operating free advice lines, online communities, and direct delivery programmes.
• Adoption UK: UK charity supporting families formed through adoption and special guardianship — including kinship carers with special guardianship orders. Highly comparable as a family-support charity providing peer networks, advice, and advocacy for non-biological parent caregivers in the UK.
• Coram: UK children's charity group providing adoption services, family support, and research/advocacy. Comparable as a children's charity combining direct service delivery, research publication, and policy influence in the family and child welfare space.

Broad incumbents

• Action for Children: UK charity supporting vulnerable children and families through direct services and campaigning. Comparable as a national family support charity combining local authority commissioned services with national advocacy and research.
• The Children's Society: UK national charity supporting disadvantaged children through direct services, advocacy, and research. Comparable as a children's charity combining service delivery, campaigning, and policy influence at a national scale.
• Barnardo's: One of the UK's largest children's charities providing direct services, advocacy, and research for vulnerable children. Comparable as a national children's charity with policy influence, though broader in scope than kinship-specific support.
• Carers UK: National UK charity campaigning for unpaid carers' rights and providing advice and information. Comparable as a high-profile advocacy and advice charity serving unpaid family carers with government and employer engagement.
• Carers Trust: UK charity supporting unpaid carers through a network of local carer organisations. Comparable as a peer-support and advice charity serving unpaid family carers, though with a broader carer remit beyond kinship care.
• NSPCC: UK's leading children's charity focused on child protection, providing helpline, advice, and direct services. Comparable as a national children's charity with significant policy influence and research capacity, though broader than kinship care.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Kinshipcarecharity
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kinship-charity
• Instagraminstagram.com/kinship_charity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kinship