Decision Maker: Corporate Director Children and Young People's Services
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
That the following revisions to fostering
support allowances be approved for 2016-17:
• Payment Rates for NYCC Foster Carers (including Family &
Friend Foster Carers, Short Break and Contract Carers and Staying
Put arrangements) be increased by 0.2% (in line with the December
2015 rate of the Consumer Price Index) on the 2015/2016 Payment
Rates.
• The Day Care rate of £5.04 per hour be increased to
£5.76 per hour (to fall in line with 80% of the new Living
Wage being introduced in April 2016).
• To maintain the current arrangement of Foster Carer mileage
rates being fully aligned with NYCC staff mileage rates for mileage
incurred in excess of the first 100 miles (covered by
allowances).
*PLEASE NOTE This decision was originally
published on or near the date of the decision and so call in no
longer applies. It has been re-published as part of the change in
committee management system that we use.*
The Council is a member of the national charity Fostering Network
who, in recent years, has published their recommended Payment Rates
for Foster Carers which North Yorkshire has always adopted.
Primarily due to the increasing differentials in housing costs
across the country, the Fostering Network is no longer recommending
Payment Rates and has instead issued guidance that allowances
should be reviewed annually and adjusted to keep up with costs with
at least the annual rate of inflation being applied. The Fostering
Network does not indicate which would be their recommended or
preferred measure of inflation.
Research has found that whilst the Payment Rates of neighbouring
authorities pose a low risk the competitive recruitment by
Independent Fostering Agencies does remain a reasonably high risk.
The increase agreed will honour the Fostering Network guidance of
increasing by inflation as measured by CPI (ie. 0.2%).
Publication date: 06/05/2021
Date of decision: 08/03/2016