A cash-strapped English council is considering charging parents of children taken into local authority care half of the weekly cost of looking after them.
Derbyshire county council said “unprecedented financial challenges” meant it had little option but to “maximise alternative sources of income” to try to reduce the strain on its children’s services. The weekly charge would range from £90 to £113 depending on the child’s age.
The Family Rights Group charity said the move would exacerbate tensions between parents and social workers and undermine attempts to keep families together, potentially resulting in higher long-term costs.
The Conservative-led council said asking parents to contribute to the cost of care would encourage them to fulfil their parental responsibilities and help reduce spiralling demand on foster care services.
The charges would apply to children entering care under voluntary agreements with parents, and not to those taken into care under court orders. Under the 1989 Children’s Act, councils have the power to charge parents but this is rarely used.
Section 20 of the act enables children to enter local authority care typically on a short-term basis when a parent is temporarily unable to provide safe care. This is typically when a parent is very young, has learning disabilities or mental illness, or where a teenager’s relationship with their parent has broken down.
Although the handful of councils known to operate a charging policy do so sparingly as part of family mediation rather than a source of income, the stated main driver of Derbyshire’s proposals appears to be its parlous financial state.
A council paper setting out the rationale for the proposal, which will be considered by council leaders later this month, says: “The council is now experiencing unprecedented financial challenges which are impacting on the council’s ability to meet demands for services.”
It adds: “The council is faced with severe financial pressures and funding from more established sources fails to meet the cost of delivering services. As a consequence, maximising alternative sources of income is crucial if council tax is to remain at an acceptable level and service reductions are to be minimised.”
Local government leaders have warned that unsustainable growth in children’s and adults’ social care costs will turn councils into “care authorities” at the expense of “nice to have” services, such as libraries, parks and youth clubs.
In common with many other councils, Derbyshire is pushing through a huge programme of cuts as it struggles to balance its books. It announced plans in April to close 10 of its 22 children’s centres as part of a £30m savings package. The bulk of its overspend is in adults’ and children’s social care.
The council estimates the families of about 28 children a year would come within the scope of the policy. They would be asked to contribute 50% of the weekly cost of care, which would be between £89.60 and £113.35, depending on the age of the child. Parents on means-tested benefits would not be charged. The council’s latest figures show 280 children aged 0-15 were in section 20 care.
Council documents estimate the measure would bring in about £165,000 a year – a tiny sum in the context of a projected £13m overspend in its children’s services and child protection budget, and an estimated £20m gap in its overall budget.
Derbyshire’s cabinet member for families and children, Julie Patten, said: “Despite not being legally obliged to fund this kind of care we have been prepared and able to do so in the past, but unfortunately now find ourselves in a position of unprecedented financial challenges creating the need for us to consider changing our contribution to care policy.”
Critics have argued the current system can be abused by parents happy to let the state provide open-ended foster care for their children when they have fallen out with them or cannot control them. The typical cost of a fostering allowance is about £1,000 a month.
However, Cathy Ashley, the chief executive of the Family Rights Group, said this was not true of the majority of cases. “The idea parents are using the system as a ‘babysitter’ is wrong. I have come across parents with all sorts of challenges and there are good reasons their children can’t be raised in their care.”
She said a charging policy would put more pressure on parents “who were already at their wits’ end” and potentially undermine family relationships, pushing the local authority closer to expensive care proceedings.
A government spokesperson said: “We understand the financial challenges that councils are facing, which is why we are committed to working with them to create a system that gives our most vulnerable children better life chances.”
