Leeds foster carers get biggest allowance rise since 2014

Foster carers employed by Leeds City Council have been handed their biggest allowance rise in eight years.

The local authority has hiked payments to those who look after vulnerable children to help keep up with the cost-of-living.

The weekly allowance carers receive to cover general maintenance costs will go up by seven per cent, backdated to April of this year.

The fee they receive on top of that, generally considered to be the ‘reward’ element on their pay and which is dependent on skill level and experience, will go up by five per cent.

Senior councillors approved the raise at an executive board meeting on Wednesday.

Councillor Fiona Venner, who is in charge of children’s services at the local authority, said that despite the council’s stretched finances, “It’s absolutely necessary that we pay this.”

She told the meeting: “Foster carers, alongside families across the country, are struggling under the weight of the cost-of-living crisis.

“We must remain competitive.

“We’ve always been either highest or second highest payer in the region for foster carers and this is how we recruit and retain foster carers.”

Around two-thirds of Leeds’ children in care are with foster families, as opposed to living in children’s homes.

That compares favourably to the rest of the UK as a whole, with the national average closer to 50-50.

Councils without enough foster carers on their own books are generally forced to pay independent fostering agencies (IFAs) to look after vulnerable kids, which is more expensive and often seen as a false economy.

Councillor Venner hit out at private providers in the sector, claiming they are making “obscene profits”.

She said: “It is a disgrace that there’s a market in our most vulnerable children. And this is placing such a strain on local authority budgets.

“The risk of not adequately paying our foster carers well is that they leave us to work in IFAs or other authorities, or they leave foster care altogether. That’s probably the biggest risk.”