Name: Care leaver debt avoidance scheme
Summary: A council has made changes to its tax policies to help care leavers transition to independent living by reducing the burden of debt
North Somerset Council has taken the bold step to exempt struggling care leavers from paying tax as part of a progressive policy aimed at helping them avoid getting into debt through financial education.
This initiative sees the council no longer take legal measures to recover council tax debts from care leavers, and instead provide help to the most vulnerable young people with their repayments.
Part of North Somerset's New Belongings plan, the initiative came about after the council promised to listen to the views of the 130 care leavers it supports when shaping policies.
Despite helping care leavers into employment and apprenticeships, they raised concerns with the council over the difficulty of transitioning from education or benefits into living independently on their first wage, with council tax identified as a difficult bill to pay.
"Our young people told us it was extremely difficult to live independently on an apprenticeship wage and we introduced this initiative in response," says Helen Caldwell, strategy and policy development officer at North Somerset Council.
The authority also found that supporting care leavers with managing their payments cost no more than current expenditure allocated to chasing council tax debt and writing off unrecovered debt.
Caldwell says the council believes the initiative provides a better start for young people in the county and helps fulfill its aim to ensure care leavers are provided with the same financial and practical support offered to their own children. She adds that there is "little point" in paying extra debt recovery costs to chase unaffordable council tax.
"It makes sense as corporate parents to financially and practically support our young people as we do our own children so that when they leave our care in the future they have learned how to manage this bill."
Those care leavers that are studying or who have stayed in Staying Put or supported lodgings placements are already exempt from paying council tax. As such, the scheme is aimed at care leavers aged between 18 and 21 that are under most financial pressure - those who are living independently, and in an apprenticeship, entry-level job or unemployed.
Initially, the council exempted apprentices from paying council tax from March 2015. A few months later it stopped actively pursuing care leavers to pay council tax arrears, with the policy set to be fully adopted from April 2016.
Feedback on the move has been positive, with care leavers expressing relief that they no longer need to worry about court action and debt recovery while learning to balance and manage their limited finances.
Care leaver Emily Morley, who is an apprentice at North Somerset Council says having the tax burden removed "has made a massive difference" to her life.
"I used to worry about it going out from my bank and making me go overdrawn," she says. "I really notice the extra money each month as in addition to the council tax, I also no longer have the bank charge to pay."
Caldwell adds care leavers are in a "unique situation" because some of them leave home before their peers despite the council having a Staying Put policy.
"By supporting our care leavers to manage the financial and practical transition, we hope to support independent living in the future.
"This doesn't happen overnight and by offering support for up to three years this encourages our young people to become fully financially independent in the future."
Caldwell explains that managing finances was "the overriding issue raised" in the councils' New Belongings survey, and they are now looking to develop a programme of "bespoke support" to respond to the results.
