A grandmother caring for two grandchildren as a kinship foster carer has successfully challenged a decision made by Bradford to not pay her the same allowances as mainstream foster carers.

Mrs Broadbent has been caring for her grandchildren Tilly and Harry since March 2018. The children had been removed as their parents were prevented from caring for them. The children are subject to full Care Orders.

Mrs Broadbent was assessed like any other foster carer to care for the children. The assessment process was rigorous and lengthy. It was the same process for a mainstream foster carer. The outcome of the assessment was that Mrs Broadbent would be presented to panel in December 2018 with a recommendation that she be approved as a long-term foster carer.

Despite this proposed date, Mrs Broadbent did not attend formal panel until April 2019 due to the Local Authority not getting their paperwork ready in time. Mrs Broadbent was approved at panel and since that date has undertaken various training courses in her role as foster carer, as well as being subject to visits from the Social Worker and having to meet fostering standards.

Mrs Broadbent has received the standard fostering allowance for both of the children since they were placed with her. This equates to around £146 per child per week. Mrs Broadbent had questioned the Local Authority as to whether she could do additional training to meet the criteria to receive the additional allowances for the benefit of the children. Mrs Broadbent was told on more than one occasion that the Local Authority would not pay any extra allowances to her as she is the children’s grandmother. Mrs Broadbent explained that she felt this was wrong given that she was doing the same job as a mainstream foster carer however she was simply told that the allowances would not be paid.

In October 2019, Mrs Broadbent contacted Ridley & Hall solicitors. She had read Ridley & Hall had previously challenged other Local Authorities about the same issue.

Helen Moody, specialist Kinship Care solicitor at Ridley & Hall commented; “I had a look at Bradford’s website when I had spoken with Mrs Broadbent. It appeared that the Council pay an additional £103.92 per week per child for foster carers who have been approved at panel. What was not clear was whether Bradford were simply refusing to pay the additional allowances in that one case or whether Bradford has a policy that states these allowances are not payable to kinship carers. I suspect that there are likely to be many more kinship carers who have had the wool pulled over their eyes”.

Despite an initial response from Bradford to state that they were only willing to backdate allowances to the date of Ridley & Hall’s first letter in October 2019, they finally agreed that the allowances should be backdated to December 2018 when Mrs Broadbent should have been approved at panel. This equates to just over £11,000. It also means that Mrs Broadbent will receive an additional £207.84 per week and can look to increase this if she wishes to continue with training and meets the criteria.

Mrs Broadbent commented, “I cannot thank Helen enough for all her help. Helen has always provided prompt responses to all my queries and corresponded with the Local Authority in a timely manner. Helen helped me get what I was entitled to when numerous professionals at the Council told me otherwise. It really was a speedy, hassle-free process and moving forward, it will be much less of a struggle for the children and I”.

Mrs Moody advised “This highlights the importance of making sure that as an approved kinship foster carer, you are receiving everything that you are entitled to. This is not the first and won’t be the last Local Authority to tell kinship carers that the additional allowance structure does not apply to them. A recent case in 2013 of London Borough of Tower Hamlets v The Queen (on the application of X) [2013] sets out very clearly that Local Authorities should not discriminate against foster carers on the basis of a pre existing relationship with the children.

If you consider that you should be receiving additional allowances as a kinship foster carer, please get in touch with Helen Moody at Ridley & Hall on 0800 8 60 62 65.