Please provide the following information:
For your mainstream foster carer population (general/unconnected carers) the basic weekly allowances paid for 2023/24 per age bracket for all age bands. NOT including any fee/reward element for foster carers.
Devon County Council (DCC) currently pays a standard weekly allowance of £216.79 per week – at present we do not differentiate by age bandings.
Please detail any other allowances paid for children living in mainstream foster care in addition to their weekly allowance, for example religious festival, holiday, birthday, other. Please detail the amount paid and the frequency foster carers can receive these.
Carers receive the following allowances per age banding
Birthday and Festivals:
0-4 £100 (annual)
5-10 £164.80 (annual)
11-17 £205.24 (annual)
Please detail any additional allowances or fees paid to for children with additional support needs or disabilities.
Depending on the needs of the child the Council pays and additional £91.63 (enhanced) or £162.82 (enhanced plus) per week
Your current fee/reward structure for mainstream foster carers (NB this is different to allowances for the child). Please include:
Training fee – £59.08 per week
Support Group Attendance fee – £59.08 per week
There is no differentiation made by carer type/banding
i) Details of the levels/bands for carers and how much you pay per week at each level/band.
N/A
ii) The number of mainstream foster carers on each level/band, including those that receive no fee on top of the child’s allowance.
For mainstream internal fostering we pay 6 carers a non standard allowance based on historic agreements. In addition we pay 169 standard allowances, of which 163 receive training and support allowances. Of these 169, 39 receive enhanced payments and 66 receive enhanced plus allowances. Please note this is the number of carers who are paid and not the number of children in foster care.
For mainstream fostering for disabled children we pay 4 carers who receive basic allowances plus carer training and carer support fees, they all also receive enhanced plus allowances.
For your kinship foster carer population (connected carers) the basic weekly allowances paid for 2023/24 per age bracket for all age bands. NOT including any fee/reward element for foster carers.
When Connected Persons (family or friends) are temporarily approved as foster carers they will receive the standard allowance as detailed above for the child or young person they are caring for. Then, if they are fully approved, following the recommendation at fostering panel and agreed by the Agency Decision Maker (ADM), they will receive the additional training and support group allowance.
Please detail any other allowances paid for children living in kinship foster care in addition to their weekly allowance, for example religious festival, holiday, birthday, other. Please detail the amount paid and the frequency foster carers can receive these.
Once Kinship/Friends and Family Foster carers are fully approved they receive the same allowances as any other approved foster carers, please refer to the previous response.
Your current fee/reward structure for kinship foster carers (NB this is different to allowances for the child). Please include:
i) Details of the levels/bands for carers and how much you pay per week at each level/band.
Please see previous response, there is no differentiation by banding
ii) The number of kinship foster carers on each level/band, including those that receive no fee on top of the child’s allowance.
For standard internal friends and family fostering we currently pay 77 carers a standard allowance, of those, 41 also receive carer support and carer training fees. Of these 77 carers 3 receive enhanced payments and 4 receive enhanced plus payments. Please note this is the number of carers who are paid and not the number of children in kinship foster care arrangements.
For disabled children in kinship fostering arrangements, we pay a total of 3 carers, 2 of whom receive carer training and support fees and 1 of which receives an enhanced basic allowance due to the needs of the child
Your 2023-24 weekly allowances for former foster carers looking after young people in 18+ Staying Put arrangements, broken down by year 1, year 2, and year 3 if necessary.
DCC pay £275.52 per week – there is no differentiation by year
Your 2023-24 weekly fee payments for former foster carers looking after young people in 18+ Staying Put arrangements, broken down by year 1, year 2, and year 3 if necessary
The allowance for a staying put arrangement is £275.52 there is no differentiation by year
Please detail any incentives that are offered to foster carers of any type for example reduced council tax or help with completing tax returns.
None
Please detail any assistance that has been given with home improvement schemes for example house extensions or disability adaptions
The Children and Young People’s Service Capital Grants and Loans Programme contains a small allocation to undertake adaptations to the property of foster carers and Kinship carers or to provide vehicles to facilitate their being able to care for a child.