Care Leavers Council Tax Exemption
Councillor Hannaford to move:
This Council notes that:
1. Last year 780 young people (aged 16 or over) left the care of Devon County Council and began the difficult transition out of care and into adulthood.
2. A 2016 report by The Children’s Society found that when care leavers move into independent accommodation they begin to manage their own budget fully for the first time. The report showed that care leavers can find this extremely challenging and with no family to support them and insufficient financial education, are falling into debt and financial difficulty.
3. Research from The Centre for Social Justice found that over half (57%) of young people leaving care have difficulty managing their money and avoiding debt when leaving care.
4. The local authority has statutory corporate parenting responsibilities towards young people who have left care up until the age of 25.
5. The Children and Social Work Act 2017 places corporate parenting responsibilities on district councils for the first time, requiring them to have regard to children in care and care leavers when carrying out their functions.
This Council believes that:
1. To ensure that the transition from care to adult life is as smooth as possible, and to mitigate the chances of care leavers falling into debt as they begin to manage their own finances, they should be exempt from paying council tax until they are 25.
2. Care leavers are a particularly vulnerable group for council tax debt.
This Council, therefore, resolves:
1. To use the county council’s convening powers and expertise in corporate parenting to work with all council tax collecting authorities to exempt all care leavers in the county from council tax up to the age of 25, sharing any arising costs proportionately.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Hannaford MOVED and Councillor Whitton SECONDED
This Council notes that:
1. Last year 780 young people (aged 16 or over) left the care of Devon County Council and began the difficult transition out of care and into adulthood.
2. A 2016 report by The Children’s Society found that when care leavers move into independent accommodation they begin to manage their own budget fully for the first time. The report showed that care leavers can find this extremely challenging and with no family to support them and insufficient financial education, are falling into debt and financial difficulty.
3. Research from The Centre for Social Justice found that over half (57%) of young people leaving care have difficulty managing their money and avoiding debt when leaving care.
4. The local authority has statutory corporate parenting responsibilities towards young people who have left care up until the age of 25.
5. The Children and Social Work Act 2017 places corporate parenting responsibilities on district councils for the first time, requiring them to have regard to children in care and care leavers when carrying out their functions.
This Council believes that:
1. To ensure that the transition from care to adult life is as smooth as possible, and to mitigate the chances of care leavers falling into debt as they begin to manage their own finances, they should be exempt from paying council tax until they are 25.
2. Care leavers are a particularly vulnerable group for council tax debt.
This Council, therefore, resolves:
1. To use the county council’s convening powers and expertise in corporate parenting to work with all council tax collecting authorities to exempt all care leavers in the county from council tax up to the age of 25, sharing any arising costs proportionately.
In accordance with Standing Order 6(6) the Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Cabinet for consideration.