Children’s services in Caerphilly County Borough could be cut to fund higher payments to foster carers, a meeting has heard.
Caerphilly Council wants to offer a more attractive pay package to carers as the number of children in care continues to rise in the authority.
Such changes would mean the council spending £291,071 of its reserves this year.
Gareth Jenkins, the council’s assistant director for children’s service, told the health social care and wellbeing scrutiny committee on Tuesday, May 8: “We are not competitive enough, we are by far the lowest payer [of carers in the region].”
As of March 31, the number of children in care in Caerphilly stood at 384 – up from 327 in the same period last year and 276 in 2016.
All of the council’s carers have been drafted in to deal with the surge, meaning there is no more room for in-house provisions.
This has meant the council has been forced to look to carers from independent fostering agencies (IFAs) at an average cost of £45,000 per year, compared to the £16,000 average cost of in-house placements.
Carers are not paid a salary but instead receive a professional fee and an allowance on a weekly basis dependent on the age of the child in their care.
In Caerphilly, carers are split into two categories: mainstream and career, with each receiving different fees from the council.
Career carers are better trained and currently earn more than mainstream carers, who are the lowest paid in the region.
Mainstream carers for children aged 11 to 15 currently receive a fee of £68.41 a week, while career carers earn £176.73 a week.
“Mainstream foster carers felt their fee levels did not reflect the level of commitment they are required to provide and as a result they felt undervalued,” a report reads.
The proposed single fee structure would offer the same professional fees to carers from both groups, while rewarding those taking on older children with higher fees.
Bonus payments to carers on their birthdays and Christmas, which had been scrapped by the council, could also be brought back.
The idea won support from the mainstream carers and raised initial concern amongst career carers at the Caerphilly Foster Carer Forum in April.
But Mr Jenkins said: “I cannot be held to ransom by a small number of carers who are quite clearly selecting the kinds of children they take.
“We may lose a couple of people but we have to go through that pain to have a more equitable system.”
Councillor Mark Evans said the revised fee structure was “long overdue” but raised concerns about the proposed cuts after the reserves are spent.
In response, Mr Jenkins said: “This is without a doubt our highest pressure point. If that means it would have to cut-in to other service areas, we will make those cuts if we need to.”
Co-opted committee member Michelle Jones said: “We don’t want to see cuts in children’s services. That eight children being placed target is a bit of a challenge to me now.
“I think that it is doable if we do it in the right way and we bring people with us on it.”
Cabinet members will have the final say on the new structure at a future meeting.
There should be no cut in childrens services – leave the system as it is and don’t let a few carers hold you to ransom.