Councils turn to inducements to attract scarce fostering families

Latest research by The Fostering Network reveals that the vast majority of both local authority and independent foster care providers have a shortage of foster carers to meet demand in their local area.

The organisation’s State of the Nations 2021 report states that “little has changed over the last four years” to improve sufficiency of foster care placements across the UK.

Research carried out by the Network in 2017 estimated that 8,600 foster carers would need to be recruited in 2021 to meet demand, but latest Ofsted figures show there were 6,800 completed applications and 2,165 approvals in 2020/21.

With Ofsted recently warning that the foster care system is at “breaking point”, some councils have taken to offering welcome payments – sometimes referred to as “golden hellos” – upwards of £1,000 to attract new carers.

Such payments have been used by independent fostering agencies (IFAs) for many years, but rarely have councils adopted the approach.

Yet, last November, Oxfordshire County Council announced it was to offer new foster carers £1,500 upon approval.

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request sent by CYP Now to all local authorities in England and Wales found that just seven per cent of the 122 that replied said they offer a cash incentive to boost recruitment.

However, the vast majority of those that do offer incentive payments have introduced them in the past five years (see graphics), while the Association of Directors of Children’s Services expect more councils to follow suit over the coming years.

CYP Now’s FoI data shows that for new foster carers, one-off incentive payments range from £250 in Torbay to £1,500 in Oxfordshire – although some councils pay higher fees for carers that transfer from IFAs.

Banded incentive fees

Redcar and Cleveland is the only council to say it introduced a “banded” rate of weekly fees paid to carers as an incentive to boost recruitment of carers willing to foster older children.

New carers fostering children aged 0-4 are paid £75; £125 is paid for those fostering children aged 5-11; and £300 is paid to those fostering a child aged 12-18.

The banding scheme was introduced in August 2017 and the council says recruitment has increased since then.

The Fostering Network warns in its report that teenagers, along with large sibling groups and children with disabilities, are among the groups with the highest need of placements.

Birmingham City Council, Bury Council and Lancashire County Council each offer £1,000 to new foster carers, while Cardiff, Wolverhampton and Merton councils offer £500 to new carers who meet certain eligibility criteria.

Such eligibility criteria tends to focus on whether a new carer has previously been an IFA foster carer. For example, Cardiff Council offers £500 to foster carers who transfer from IFAs to the council’s Foster Wales Cardiff programme once transferring carers have been approved by the local authority’s fostering panel.

The process has been in place for three years, the councils says, and has seen “an increase in the number of foster carers transferring from an IFA to Foster Wales Cardiff since these payments were introduced”.

In March 2020, Central Bedfordshire Council also introduced an incentive fee to carers transferring to the council-run service from IFAs, offering £2,000 once a child had been in place with a transferring carer for six weeks. However, it notes that it is “too early” to say whether the scheme has improved recruitment of carers from IFAs.

Carmarthenshire County Council stopped its practice of offering £2,000 to carers who transferred from IFAs in 2019, saying it had a “limited impact” on assisting recruitment, but is set to review reintroducing the policy in 2022.

‘Terrible practice’

However, some experts criticise the practice of offering incentive payments for existing foster carers and warn that it leaves providers “battling” over a finite number of carers in an area (see expert views).

Andy Elvin, chief executive of Tact Fostering, describes it as “terrible practice that should be outlawed”. He adds: “Bribing carers to move from an IFA does not increase the number of carers, disrupts children and is wholly unethical.”

However, he backs payments to existing foster carers or council staff for referring friends or relatives that go on to become new carers (see below).

The majority of councils that offer incentive payments to new carers do so once they are approved by the council’s fostering panel or when a child is placed.

Lancashire pays new carers its £1,000 “welcome fee” after a child is “successfully” placed for two months. The council introduced its payment in January 2021 in a bid to boost recruitment during the Covid-19 pandemic, but says it is “too early to ascertain if the scheme has been effective”.

Birmingham is the only council to offer to pay its fee in instalments, with carers given the choice between receiving £250 at stage one of the application process and £750 on approval or as one lump sum following approval.

Bury, Redcar and Cleveland, and Oxfordshire councils each pay welcome fees as soon as a child is placed, while Merton releases its £500 “setting up fee” when a carer is ready to offer placements.

Like Merton, which introduced its fee in 2016, Wolverhampton also describes its £500 fee as a “setting up fee” rather than an incentive to attract new carers.

Wolverhampton Council, which introduced its “setting up fee” eight years ago, says that “while this can clearly be viewed as an incentive to applicants, it is also to meet the initial setting up costs of the fostering placement – beds, bedroom furniture, room decoration”.

Neither Merton nor Wolverhampton councils were able to say if the introduction of these £500 fees had boosted recruitment as neither records data directly linking the two.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council also says it pays £500 to approved carers as part of a “setting up” arrangement, while Hull City Council says: “We pay a fostering allowance and we support with set up costs where needed. This however is not an incentive payment and is something that is offered to approved foster carers.”

Of the nine councils that told CYP Now it classed itself as paying some form of incentive fee, including Wolverhampton and Merton, four said it had increased recruitment. The rest were either unsure due to lack of data or said it was too early to say.

While Hertfordshire County Council does not offer an incentive fee, it says it increased foster carer recruitment from 26 in 2019/20 to 54 in 2020/21 through an awareness campaign which “specifically highlighted the existing pay and allowances available to people who become foster carers”.

This was particularly relevant during the Covid-19 pandemic as there were “many people in this group who may have been considering fostering, but were concerned at this time that they would be unable to afford this”, the council says.

It appears too early to say if the use of incentive fees to attract new foster carers is a necessary step to address the existing shortfall in foster carers. But, with the number of children in care continuing to rise, the detrimental impact of the pandemic and a looming cost of living crisis, the need to recruit more foster carers looks set to increase, likely encouraging more councils to consider using financial incentives to attract them.

COUNCILS SEE LIMITED IMPACT FROM REFERRAL FEES

Referrals fees paid to existing foster carers or staff members who successfully recommend a new carer are used by 11 per cent of local authorities that responded to CYP Now’s FoI request.

Ranging from £2,000 in Bracknell Forest to £200 in a number of other areas, the fees are paid largely to the person who has successfully referred a friend or relative to become a local authority foster carer.

A handful of councils also extend payment to a foster carer once approved. Sandwell says its scheme, introduced in 2021, has had “some impact” on recruitment, with three new foster carers signed up through it.

Waltham Forest, which offers £250 to existing carers or council employees who successfully refer a friend or relative, says its scheme, which has been in place for two years, has boosted recruitment.

Meanwhile, Blackpool, which pays referers £500, says the initiative has only recruited one foster carer in the past 12 months.

Bracknell Forest, which offers the highest referral fee, says it previously recruited five foster carers through a lower referral fee.

Tact’s Andy Elvin says referral schemes lead to “good outcomes” with the payment often used to boost a foster child’s savings or take them on holiday. “These are good schemes and mean that we get great new carers into the system and increase the number of foster carers,” he adds.

Some local authorities offer benefits to foster carers including council tax exemption, free wraparound care for children, and free access to local gyms and leisure facilities.

Both Liverpool City Council and West Berkshire Council provide carers with a “Max card” which offers families with foster children or those with additional needs discounts on attractions across the UK, including theme parks and holiday parks.