Report to the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools
Report submitted by: Deputy Director, Central, Children's Social Care
Date: Wednesday 7 December 2016
Part I
Electoral Division affected:
All
Staying Put Policy and Procedure - A Review of Financial Support
(Appendix 'A' refers)
Contact for further information:
Tony Morrissey, Deputy Director, Central, Children's Social Care, Tel 01772 538720
[email protected]
Executive Summary
The County Council is required by statute to have a 'Staying Put' policy which
enables looked after young people in foster care to remain living within their foster
placement beyond their 18th birthday, and potentially up to their 21st birthday,
delaying their transition into independence. The benefits to young people are
significant, providing them with reassurance and ongoing support.
Lancashire has had a scheme in place for two years.
This policy requires a financial commitment and this is an increase to the current
budget allocated for care leavers.
A decision is required regarding the level of Staying Put Allowance to be paid to
(former) foster carers and the duration of that support. The proposal is to increase
the current amount paid to carers, in line with actions other authorities are taking
nationally, and fulfilling Lancashire's requirement to promote this option to young
people leaving care.
Recommendation
The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools is recommended to:
(i) approve the proposed increase to £222 per week in funding allowance to be
paid to (former) foster carers who enter into a Staying Put Arrangement; and
(ii) approve the updated Lancashire Staying Put Policy and Procedure, as set
out at Appendix 'A', which includes an arrangement lasting up to the age of 21
in Lancashire.
Background and Advice
It is a statutory requirement to have a Staying Put policy in place.
Staying Put has existed since 2008. The main aim is to identify those young people
who have ‘established familial relationships’ with their foster carers, offering them the
opportunity to remain with their carers until they reached the age of 21, and delaying
their transition into independence. Following an evaluation of the findings, guidance
was issued to support the implementation of Staying Put in May 2013. In formulating
the County Council's Staying Put proposed policy and procedure, those of other
Local Authorities have been considered, including Blackpool, Stockport and Trafford.
In 2014/15, a new national data collection requirement was stipulated. Lancashire
now collects the number of 18 year old care leavers in Lancashire who were living
with former foster carers three months after leaving care at 18. There were 53
children who ceased to be looked after in a foster placement on their 18 th birthday
during the year ending 31st March 2015, who were eligible for care leavers support,
and amongst these, 23 (43%) remained with their former foster carers three months
after their 18th birthday.
To ensure the Staying Put resource is targeted at those most in need and is
affordable, the following is proposed:

Staying Put arrangements only apply to Foster Carers (in-house and agency).

Young people residing with kinship carers/family and friends carers are
entitled to Staying Put arrangements, however they are not entitled to claim
Housing Benefit therefore the Local Authority will be required to fund this.

Financial support for a Staying Put arrangement to be available until the
young person reaches 21, unless the agreement between carer and young
person is breached. The arrangement could also cease upon the mutual
decision of both parties.

If the young person is in full time education post 18, the Boarding Out
payment would continue until the end of the academic year. At that point, any
agreed Staying Put arrangement (and the new funding) will take effect until
the young person becomes 21.
It is accepted that all decisions will stem from the premise of what is in the best
interest of the young person. In some circumstances a young person will want or
ask to leave care before 18 and are able, with support from their Personal Advisor, to
manage. Mechanisms are established that will ensure that those who do elect to
move away from home and live in supported accommodation as their preferred next
step, will be thoroughly supported.
Since 2013, a staying put allowance of £150 per week has been in place for former
foster carers. In many cases, the allowance combines contributions from both the
Authority and from the young person, although there are instances when the full
allowance is funded by the Authority. As the Staying Put Policy and Procedure has
now been revised, it is timely to review the financial support available to foster
carers, who continue to provide support beyond 18 under a Staying Put placement.
In reaching the recommendation, several other local authority Staying Put policies
have been considered. Some local authorities have introduced a staying put rate,
based on the foster care allowance, minus the clothing and pocket money allowance
that the carer gave to the young person. Others, including Trafford Borough Council,
have adopted a policy that specifies the amount applicable for each component of
the allowance. Lancashire considers this to be an approach that could be adapted to
meet needs.
The following is therefore recommended;
In any Staying Put arrangement, the total payment to the carer will be £222 per
week. This is made up as follows:




Rent - £90
Food - £32
Utilities - £20
General Counselling and Support - £80
The above costings have been broken down due to the risk of 'contrivance', as
stated in the Staying Put guidance. Food payment and rent must be separate
elements, otherwise there is a significant risk that a reduced amount of Housing
Benefit can be claimed by the young person. It is also stated in the guidance, that
Children's Social Care must, in their Agreement with the Staying Put Carer, provide a
full cost breakdown, as above, which is used to establish rent cost.
The allowance will continue to be partly, or in some instances wholly, funded by the
Authority, based on the following principles:



Where entitled, the young person will claim Housing Benefit and pay directly
to the carer;
A further £20 contribution from the young person if receiving Job Seekers
Allowance/Universal Credit OR £50 from the young person if in employment;
The balance of the £222 per week allowance, after deducting the Housing
benefit and young person's contribution, will be funded by the Authority.
It is pertinent to state that the Authority anticipates that young people will be able to
claim the one-bed self-contained room rate from Housing Benefit, due to their care
leaver status.
It is also necessary to consider the varying levels of impact on the carers, depending
on their personal circumstances. As stated in the guidance, the local Authority could
make a compensatory payment to the Staying Put Carer, which would be
disregarded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and would negate the
loss of the carer's benefits. However, this must be reviewed on a case by case
basis, due to the individual circumstances of each individual.
In May 2013, the Department for Education (DfE), DWP and Her Majesty's Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) issued the following guidance on Staying Put Arrangements
and advised local authorities on how to best support carers in receipt of benefits.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-put-arrangements-for-careleavers-aged-18-years-and-above
Consultations
Consultations have taken place with other local authorities to establish an
appropriate amount of staying put allowance.
There have been no formal consultations as this is a review of our present financial
arrangements and a proposal to increase the allowance
Implications:
This item has the following implications, as indicated:
Risk management
The risk of not progressing the increase in staying put allowance is that Lancashire
will be one of the lowest paying local authorities and will have difficulty in securing
staying put arrangements for care leavers. This is not in line with the Government
strategy 'Keep On Caring Strategy, Supporting Young People from Care to
Independence' published in July 2016 which is asking local authorities to promote
staying put for care leavers to provide them with the necessary stability to assist
them in later life to move to independence. Lancashire is also committed to this and
this commitment is being scrutinised by Ofsted and the DfE as part of our
improvement journey following our inadequate inspection which found services to
care leavers inadequate.
Financial
In May 2014, the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools
approved a Staying Put policy, under which an allowance is paid to carers who
provide continued support to former fostered young people in their care, up to the
age of 21.
When the young person turns 18 and is no longer a looked after child, the financial
arrangement changes from the payment of a foster care allowance and (where
applicable) enhancement allowance to a 'living arrangement' allowance that reflects
the change in role to that of staying put carer.
The policy currently in place introduced an allowance capped at £150 per week. A
proportion is paid by the Authority after deducting:
1) Housing benefit entitlement claimed by the young person and paid to the carer;
2) A contribution of £20 from the young person, for example, from wages.
There are circumstances under which the Authority pays either a top-up or, in some
instances, the full allowance. One example is where the Authority will top-up funding
where the carer would experience loss of own welfare benefits as a result of the
arrangement.
The policy has now been in place for two years and in 2015/16 the support through
Staying Put Allowances totalled approximately £0.125m. This was wholly grant
funded, following the Government's pledge of additional funding for the first three
years.
On the basis that the spend in 2015/16 represented only two years cohort, in
2016/17 with three years' cohort (and assuming the same level of uptake and rate of
allowance) the cost is estimated to be £0.230m. This will be wholly funded from
government grant.
A review of the current policy and allowance level reflects the desire to encourage
more carers in Lancashire to support young people to Stay Put. Currently there is no
national guidance stipulating the staying put allowance rates. This has led to
Authorities adopting different approaches to setting their rates locally, and whether
the rate remains the same for the duration of the staying put arrangement or reduces
each year.
A review of a sample of North West Authorities excluding Lancashire indicates that
average rates vary from c.£165/week to £319/week (although in some cases rates
reduce after the first year), thus demonstrating that Lancashire's current rate of
£150/week is low. The rate has been cited as a contributing factor to low take up.
A number of alternative models have been considered and the approach detailed
above is viewed by the Service to be pragmatic and transparent. Lancashire
proposes to introduce a rate of £222 per week with a no detriment principle, i.e. if a
Staying Put carer experiences either a loss of benefit or an increase in tax
contributions as a result of entering into a staying put arrangement, they will receive
a compensatory top-up payment from the Authority, to ensure that they receive £222
for each young person who remains under the Staying Put arrangement.
The change represents an increase of £72 per week for a carer.
impact for the Authority is dependent upon a number of factors:
-
The financial
Actual uptake of the arrangement;
The young persons' circumstances, including employment status and housing
benefit entitlement;
The requirement for top-up/full allowance funding to be met by the Authority.
In light of the variables detailed above, it is not possible to provide an accurate
assessment of the financial implications of increasing the allowance. The table
below presents two scenarios based upon different Housing Benefit entitlement to
show the range within which the funding requirement is likely to be.
The figures are based on a 3-year representative cohort of eligible foster care
placements (estimated 220 young people) and show the funding required from the
Authority under different levels of take-up:
1) Young person is not in
employment and is entitled to claim
the one-bedroom rate of benefit
under Local Housing Allowance rules.
£222 per week paid to carer of which
£20 per week is contribution from the
young person and £90 from Housing
Benefit entitlement. Cost to the
Authority of £112 per week.
2) Young person is not entitled to
claim Housing Benefit*. £222 per
week paid to carer of which £50 per
week is contribution from the young
person, and the balance of £172 is
funded by the Authority.
70% Uptake
£m
0.891
60% Uptake
£m
0.769
50% Uptake
£m
0.646
1.368
1.181
0.993
*Examples of ineligibility for Housing Benefit include the young person's employment
status, or where the young person is supported by a kinship or friend/family carer.
Children's Social Care envisages that approximately 60% of young people/carers will
take up the Staying Put arrangement.
There will be instances where an
arrangement will end before the young person turns 21, but the proportion where this
will happen is difficult to estimate.
Whilst there will be instances where the full allowance must be met by the Authority,
it is assumed at this stage that any increased costs will be offset with lower funding,
for arrangements that come to end earlier than 3 years.
Taking account of the factors above, and the assumption of 60% take-up, the annual
funding commitment for the Authority is estimated to be between £0.769m and
£1.181m.
In the shorter term, the low initial uptake will still be a factor. The estimate of funding
required in 2016/17 must take account of the increased rate applying for part year
only, whilst also reflecting that a third year cohort will be eligible to stay put.
Based on funding to date in 2016/17, and the introduction of the higher rate in-year,
the funding required in 2016/17 is not expected to exceed £0.240m, and can be met
from the grant allocation of £0.293m.
If the grant is withdrawn at any point after 31st March 2017 (as currently assumed in
the Medium Term Financial Strategy) and uptake increases to the levels assumed
above, the estimated annual cost to be funded from the Children's Social Care
revenue budget is between £0.769m - £1.181m. This represents an increased
annual commitment of £0.119m - £0.531m when compared to the financial modelling
assumptions under the original policy approved in May 2014. Any continued grant
funding beyond 1st April 2017 will lessen the financial impact on the Medium Term
Financial Strategy.
With regard to continued funding, as stated in the 'Keep On Caring Strategy,
Supporting Young People from Care to Independence' published in July 2016, there
is continued commitment from Government to provide funding to local authorities to
implement Staying Put over the life of the current Parliament, using the £22m
provided in 2016/17 as the baseline, and to review implementation and work with the
sector to address any issues identified through the review. The latest grant
determination indicates that funding for 2017/18 will be announced in February 2017.
The Authority is facing escalating financial pressures and uncertainty around future
funding, including grant funding for staying put, and may propose revisions to the
recommended rate of £222 per week in the future.
LCC Services
The Government's view is that local authorities should improve outcomes for care
leavers and specifically references Staying Put arrangements in the letter from the
Minister of Children, to Directors of Children's Services dated 30 October 2012 in
relation to this.
The recommendations made in the Ofsted report into children's services in
Lancashire, published in October 2015, also drives the necessity to increase the take
up of Staying Put. The proposal must be an incentive to foster carers considering the
option, particularly if their foster care status attracts an enhancement payment, due
to their skills.
There is a potential financial impact on foster carers if they are in receipt of benefits.
As stated previously in the report, the Local Authority could make a compensatory
payment to carers, due to the potential financial impact on their personal
circumstances. This must be reviewed on an individual basis.
From 1st January 2017, all Local Authority foster carers will be placed on Tier 2
following approval, and they, along with carers from Independent Fostering
Agencies, would see a reduction in payments. Foster carers who do not continue
with training/development and who do not provide the best quality care will be paid at
Tier 1.
There is a risk that foster carers will be put off by the reduced payment, particularly
where a young person may be more challenging to care for. This could lead to a
reduction in Staying Put provision, potentially negatively affecting outcomes for care
leavers.
Foster carers offering Staying Put placements may mean a reduction in the number
of foster placements. However, for years, many foster carers have provided informal
Staying Put arrangements for the young people in their care. There could potentially
be a cost to the fostering service of reassessing carers who have ceased fostering,
due to Staying Put, and then wish to resume at the end of the Staying Put
arrangement, or maintaining a carer's fostering registration for the duration of
Staying Put with a reduced placement capacity. The fostering service will need to
accept any negative impact of Staying Put to their capacity and growth targets.
As the Staying Put policy recommends supporting a young person up to the age of
21, there will likely be a more positive outcome for care leavers. However, it is also
acknowledged that the cost of this will have an impact on Lancashire County
Council's budget.
The Staying Put policy may impact upon performance data return which requires
Local Authorities to report on outcomes for care leavers up to and including 21.
Local Authorities report specifically on numbers of young people attending full and
part time higher education and suitability of accommodation.
List of Background Papers
Paper
Date
Contact/Tel
Lancashire Staying Put Policy
and Procedure
insert date
Tony Morrissey/ Jane
Hylton/ Sarah Jones
Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate
N/A