Final stage of pilot council tax exemptions for foster carers backed by councillors

Bruce Sinclair, Local democracy reporter

The final sign-off for a pilot scheme for a county’s foster carers to be exempt from council tax payments, has been backed by senior councillors.

Last July, Pembrokeshire County Council Cabinet members backed a pilot scheme, giving 100 per cent exemptions for those meeting the criteria, running from April 1 of this year, up to March 31, 2029.

In a report presented by Cabinet Member for Young Persons, Community, Well-being and Future Generations Cllr Marc Tierney, members heard the average yearly cost of a young person being supported by an in-house foster carer per year is £22,770, while the cost for those in in residential care per year is £409,812, a variance of £387,042 per year.

“It is evident that if we can support more people to foster through a council tax discretionary discount scheme, this will benefit the Local Authority by reducing reliance on far more expensive residential care placements, or independent fostering agency arrangements, whilst enabling children to remain in their own communities,” the report said.

It added: “Based on the 25/26 Council Tax (Band D) equivalent rate of £2,059.82 per annum, the cost of implementing a 100 per cent discount per year for current mainstream foster carers would be £133,888.30. It is noted that there may be some households within this cohort who are already receiving some sort of discount, however £133,888.30 should be the maximum impact.”

Offset against that, current costs for Independent Fostering Agencies placements are some £1,956,500; the spend for the same number of children placed with in-house foster carers based on average placement costs would £796,920 per annum, an annual variance of £1,159,580 less per year compared to IFA placement costs.

“Introducing this discount on a pilot basis would be with a view to identifying if additional costs incurred by implementing this scheme would be offset by reducing the number of children and young people placed with Independent Fostering Agencies and increasing the number of children being cared for via in-house foster carers,” the report said.

It added: “This proposal will also have the added benefit of creating capacity for more young people looked after to remain close to their families, their homes, their schools, and communities thus retaining crucial local links and support networks.”

At the March meeting of Cabinet, members were asked to again back the scheme, with minor amendments to eligibility, which was supported by Cabinet.