Issue - meetings

Meeting: 13/09/2023 - Cabinet (Item 382)

382 Calculation of Allowances for Special Guardians, Child Arrangement Order and Adoption Allowances - the Government Calculator pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Futures (CS/23/05) seeking agreement to the adoption of the Government recommended calculator for allowance reviews for kinship care from 1st January 2024, attached.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED that the Government recommended calculator for allowance reviews for kinship care be adopted with effect from 1st January 2024.

Minutes:

(Councillors Biederman, Brazil, Dewhirst and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

 

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Futures (CS/23/05) which sought agreement to the adoption of the Government recommended calculator for allowance reviews for kinship care from 1st January 2024, circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

 

The Report highlighted that children that were unable to live with their birth families benefitted from a stable, permanent family placement, which could be provided in a number of ways such as Special Guardianship, Child Arrangement Order or Adoption. The Council had been using a locally devised formula for the calculation of kinship allowances, however, legal precedent and best practice suggested that the means test should be undertaken using the Government recommended allowance calculator for SGO, CAO and Adoption Allowances which would result in the payment of higher levels of allowance.

 

The Local Authority was required to publish a policy that detailed the support they would provide to special guardians, including financial support and the Kinship charity (formerly Grandparents Plus) had highlighted the disparity of financial support offered between Local Authorities.

 

The DfE recommended calculator was a suggested model and was not a statutory requirement. However, it was recommended and there had been increasing spotlight on its use by the Courts and the Local Government Ombudsman. Recent case law, Sarah Becker v Plymouth City Council, recommended that the DfE model means test and guidance was used when calculating SG payments and the financial recompense was ordered to be backdated. This Council had received a letter from the Local Government Ombudsman asking why the Council did not follow the Government recommendations. This anonymised letter was attached for reference.

 

There were also other examples of where the recommended calculator was promoted (report of the Kinship charity April 2022, BBC Tonight program regarding the Plymouth ruling, heightened scrutiny of processes and procedures and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report giving advice for special guardians - Firm Foundations (lgo.org.uk)

 

The adoption of the DfE calculator was likely to have a positive outcome for most special guardians and kinship carers, particularly those on a lower income. A sample of SGO allowances were reviewed using the government recommended calculator. The sample set indicated that around half of Special Guardians would receive an increase in allowance payments.

 

The proposals fitted with the Strategic Plan priorities to be ambitious for children and young people, tackle poverty and inequality and improve health and wellbeing.

 

This proposal had a projected full year financial impact of £412k and implementation from January 2024 would cost approximately £103k and costs would be ongoing. There was no allocated budget within 2023/24 to fund the conversion costs which would therefore contribute to existing budget pressures.

 

In summary, the recommendation to adopt the Government calculator for all kinship allowances reflects the explicit Government advice that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 382