Issue - meetings

Supporting the Recruitment and Retention of Foster Carers through Council Tax Rebate

Meeting: 29/03/2018 - Executive (Item 119)

119 Foster Carer Benefits and Entitlements: Exemption of Council Tax pdf icon PDF 104 KB

Decision:

That:

 

1)         the proposal for Council tax exemptionor payment equivalent to council tax for those living outside the Borough for Wokingham in-house foster carers as part of a retention and recruitment strategy to obtain sufficient in house foster carers for the children of Wokingham be approved;

 

2)         the Council Tax Section 13A Policy be amended to include this proposal;

 

3)         it be noted that the costs of this proposal are planned to be funded from the savings generated from transferring higher cost IFA carers to lower cost in-house carers.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report setting out options for specific incentives for foster carers including exemption from council tax.

 

The Executive Member for Children’s Services informed the meeting that the policy would give council tax exemption to foster carers recruited by the Council.  Councillor Ashwell felt that this would deliver a positive message to foster carers that the Council valued their service and were supporting local residents to meet local needs.  It was also highlighted that this was an invest to save proposal as a newly recruited in-house foster carer would save £450 per week per child i.e. £35k per annum as opposed to using an independent fostering agency.

 

Councillor Weeks queried whether this proposal would help the Council to continue to ensure that the vast majority of children would be fostered within the Borough or nearby rather than at remote locations.  Councillor Ashwell confirmed that the proposal was to assist in the recruitment and retention of foster carers and highlighted that 97% of the Council’s children in care in the last year had been placed with in-house foster carers and it was hoped to build on this number going forward.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)         the proposal for Council tax exemptionor payment equivalent to council tax for those living outside the Borough for Wokingham in-house foster carers as part of a retention and recruitment strategy to obtain sufficient in house foster carers for the children of Wokingham be approved;

 

2)         the Council Tax Section 13A Policy be amended to include this proposal;

 

3)         it be noted that the costs of this proposal are planned to be funded from the savings generated from transferring higher cost IFA carers to lower cost in-house carers.