Agenda item

Members welcomed former Councillor, Nina Wood-Ford, who presented the findings of the Scrutiny of Care Leavers’ Short Sharp review on behalf of the group.  During the delivery of her presentation the following points were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·                Following a notice of motion to Council in January 2018 Members had been tasked with undertaking an overview and scrutiny review of the financial support available to care leavers.

·                The group had focused on; the legal duties of local Councils towards care leavers; the position of care leavers in Redditch in 2018; the steps taken by other Councils to meet the needs of care leavers; and the options available to assist care leavers.

·                Evidence had been gathered from a range of sources including; interviewing officers from Worcestershire County Council, interviewing officers from Redditch Borough Council who managed the Council Tax service, the Wolf at the Door report; Worcestershire Care Leavers’ Strategy; and information about how other Councils were supporting care leavers.

·                The group had found that legal reforms had led to improvements to the support available to care leavers, including better planning for those aged over 18, young people remaining in foster placements for longer and personal advisors being provided to care leavers.

·                As a Corporate Parent Redditch Borough Council had a duty to have regard to care leavers when carrying out its functions.

·                Debt problems and difficulties with budgeting had been identified as problems for care leavers, though many received good advice in relation to this.

·                The government had no plans to introduce guidance as to how Councils should treat care leavers in relation to Council Tax.  This therefore needed to be determined at the local level.

·                There were 72 care leavers residing in Redditch, 28 of whom were recorded as having Council Tax liability.

·                In total 19 of these care leavers qualified for support under the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme and nine were liable to pay Council Tax.

·                In proposing their recommendations the group had aimed to secure actions that would be cost effective, easy to administer and apply for and would be available to care leavers.

·                The proposals would require means testing of care leavers aged 22 to 25.

·                The group felt the best option for supporting care leavers would be to amend the Council Tax Support Scheme.  This was preferred to amending the Hardship Fund as that was meant to be used on a discretionary basis.  Changing the Council Tax support scheme would also be cheaper for the Council than amending the hardship fund.

·                The group had concluded that the fairest approach would be to include care leavers from outside Redditch.  However, Officers could not forecast the costs involved in extending the scheme to care leavers from outside Redditch as it was uncertain how many would move to the Borough.

·                The group’s third proposal had been made as any changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme would only come into effect in April 2019, following consultation.

·                The third recommendation proposed that assistance should be provided to care leavers in the interim period, in 2018/19, for care leavers residing in Redditch from the Hardship Fund.

·                This third proposal, if agreed, would cost the Council £10,3000 to implement.

Following the presentation of the report Members discussed a number of points in detail:

·                The costs involved in delivering the changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme and the reasons for the different costs associated with the group’s third recommendation.  Officers explained that the Council needed to cover the full costs of the interim arrangement to support care leavers through the hardship fund.  The £10,300 that had been quoted was an estimate.

·                The potential to extend the scheme only to young people leaving care who lived in Redditch.  Mrs Wood-Ford advised that the group had explored this opportunity but had been advised that the Council could then be subject to a legal challenge from care leavers who had moved into Redditch from outside the borough.

·                The restriction of the interim support to Redditch care leavers.  Mrs Wood-Ford advised that Officers had confirmed that this was acceptable.

Reference was made to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9^th August 2018 when Members had considered the report.  Following a detailed discussion Members had approved the Scrutiny Group’s proposals at that meeting.

During consideration of this item Councillor Tom Baker-Price proposed an amendment to the proposals.  This proposal was seconded by Councillor Dormer. This amendment read as follows:

1)        “The executive affirms its commitment to introduce reforms to the council tax support scheme for care leavers at the earliest opportunity which achieves the following objectives:

i)          To reduce the net liability for council tax to zero until the care leaver’s 21st Birthday.

ii)         To provide transitional support for care leavers that enables a reduction in liability for council tax up to and including zero from a care leaver’s 21st birthday until the care leaver’s 25th birthday.

2)        In the interim to support care leavers, the council tax support hardship policy should be amended to ensure the net liability of care leavers to pay council tax until their 25th birthday is reduced to zero providing they have left Worcestershire County Council care and are living independently. This is an interim measure and support under the hardship policy should end when reform has been implemented.

3)        The head of customer services is asked to ensure officers whose role includes supporting care leavers experiencing council tax debt, are provided with appropriate training on corporate parenting and in consultation with the portfolio holder for corporate management explores additional measures to support care leavers to achieve financial independence.”

In proposing the amendment Councillor Baker-Price explained that many care leavers were very vulnerable, having often experienced abuse in their early life which could cause life-long issues.  A significant proportion of those in the criminal justice system had been in care as had many people who were homeless.  Councillor Baker-Price suggested that to address this there was a need to introduce a support system based on prevention and all of the precepting authorities had a role to play in this.  Members of Redditch Borough Council, as Corporate Parents, needed to recognise the lived experience of care leavers. 

Councillor Baker-Price expressed concerns that the group had not consulted with care leavers during their review.  Members were advised that he had recently met with some care leavers and they needed support.  He also raised concerns that means testing would be highly bureaucratic which would add costs to the scheme proposed by scrutiny Members.  Councillor Baker-Price explained that his proposals would correspond with those made by other Councils in Worcestershire in respect of care leavers, which would ensure consistency across the county.

Members discussed the amendment and noted the following:

·                The delays that had occurred during the course of the scrutiny review which meant it had been completed in seven rather than six months.  The Committee was advised that following the elections the group had lost their Chair and this had caused some delays.  Officers had also had to wait to gather information from external sources in respect of the recommendations which had added to the timescales.

·                The reasons why it had been felt that a scrutiny review was required to investigate support that could be provided to care leavers.

·                The need for Members appointed to scrutiny reviews to attend every meeting where possible.

·                The need for any changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme, as detailed in the first amended recommendation, to be subject to consultation with the public.  It was suggested that this should be reflected in the Executive Committee’s decision on this item.

·                The need for the Head of Customer Access and Financial Support to work with the Head of Community Services, as the lead officer for safeguarding, in respect of training officers.  Again it was suggested that this should be reflected in any decision to be taken by the Executive Committee.

·                The questions that had been raised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in respect of the means testing and how this would work.

·                The numbers of children and young people living in care in Redditch compared to other districts in the county.  Members were advised that when the review was proposed there were two young people living in care in Wyre Forest District compared to 133 young people living in care in the Borough of Redditch.

RESOLVED that

1)        the Executive Committee affirms its commitment to introduce reforms to the Council Tax Support Scheme for care leavers at the earliest opportunity, subject to statutory consultation on the Council Tax Support Scheme, which achieves the following objectives:

iii)       to reduce the net liability for Council Tax to zero until the care leaver’s 21st Birthday;

iv)       to provide transitional support for care leavers that enables a reduction in liability for Council Tax up to and including zero from a care leaver’s 21st birthday until the care leaver’s 25th birthday;

2)        the Head of Customer Access and Financial Support, with the help of the Head of Community Services, is asked to ensure officers whose role includes supporting care leavers experiencing Council Tax debt, are provided with appropriate training on Corporate Parenting and, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management, explores additional measures to support care leavers to achieve financial independence; and

3)        the Scrutiny of Care Leavers Short Sharp Review Final Report be noted.

RECOMMENDED that

4)        in the interim to support care leavers, the Council Tax Support Hardship Policy should be amended to ensure the net liability of care leavers to pay Council Tax until their 25th birthday is reduced to zero providing they have left Worcestershire County Council care and are living independently. This is an interim measure and support under the hardship policy should end when reform has been implemented.

(The Chair left the meeting towards the end of this item, prior to a vote on the matter.  In his absence the Deputy Leader, Councillor David Bush, chaired the remainder of the meeting).