Universal Credit changes

[markm49uk]

Hello all - My wife and I are current foster carers for 2 young children who we are looking to adopt. After the adoption we will have the capacity for fostering young babies - this new universal credit will make this situation untenable.

The fostering community are simply unaware of these changes coming down the line - having to attend back to work meetings, only allowing 8 weeks between placements before having to look for work, partners having to look for work or have a certain level of self employed income etc etc

Why is nobody shouting from the rooftops about this - what are BAAF, Fosterline etc doing to make the Government see sense in this madness - have they considered the impact on the family when moving a child onto adoption - the emotional bond is broken and can take months to heal so you are ready for the next foster placement. What are you meant to do - get a job in the meantime. Disgusting.

What if there are no children to foster for say 3 months - so you get a job in week 9 but then a foster child becomes available, do you just leave your job? Who is going to employ a foster carer knowing that they could walk out at short notice - how do you handle notice periods where the child is taken in the middle of the night but you can't take them because you are tied to a months notice at your new job.

We need to fight this but how?

[SoonToBeSix]

I am surprised your LA will allow you to foster right after an adoption?
How does UC affect you differently from tax credits?

[markm49uk]

We will be waiting for 6 months before commencing fostering. In terms of differences - why should a foster carer have to attend meeting about readiness to return to work?

What about the 8 weeks placement gap allowance - how will that work given what I have said above?

In terms of changes to our position then I am partly self employed and part carer - this is not black and white like the Government want you to believe it is. I earn when I can and pay my tax however there are times when it is difficult to do so - in the adoption process for example or when taking in challenging children.

[expatinscotland]

It will be ramrodded through no matter what.

[SoonToBeSix]

I don't understand why one if you doesn't work and one of you foster. Fostering isn't a job , you get a allowance yes but that's not the same thing.
I am not sure I understand your post correctly are you saying that in between fostering placements you should receive government support whilst doing nothing?

[sanfairyanne]

fostering is a job!

[sanfairyanne]

everyone i know who fosters does it as a job. they cant work and foster, although most of them have just one person doing it full time while the partner works.

[expatinscotland]

Fostering is a job.

[confused79]

But it doesn't take 2 people, full time, to foster. The same as when you have your own children, regardless of how many, one of you has to work!

[SoonToBeSix]

Sanfairy I know people foster as an alternative to regular employment but that doesn't make it a job. Wanting to foster and needing payment to allow you to do so is fine. Becoming a fosterer as a planned career is unfair on children as people could be motivated to foster for the wrong reasons.

[sanfairyanne]

the process to become a foster carer is surely rigorous enough to weed out those doing it for any number of wrong reasons. like social work, teaching, nursing, it is perhaps a vocation rather than a 'job' but everyone i know who does it definitely thinks of it as a 'job' or 'career'. nothing wrong with that at all. it involves a great deal of specialist skills/knowledge/training.

[scarlet5tyger]

At present you are required to change from Income Support to Job Seekers Allowance the same day that your foster placement moves on, and have always had to attend back to work meetings - now done over the phone due to staff shortages at the job centres.

I disagree with the comments that fostering isn't a job - it is, and a very difficult one at times - but it's also more than that. I don't know a single foster carer who does it simply for the money. Saying that, I don't see why the government should be paying Income Support twice as one partner should be available to work outside the home (If it's a particularly challenging placement who requires two carers then Universal Credit does have provisions for this).

Mark, when I spoke to the benefits agency about your point re. Employers not taking on FC as we would leave when a placement was needed they agreed, and said this would work in our favour.

I think the biggest thing that should be acknowledged is that if the government paid a decent, living, wage for fostering then none of us would need to claim benefit, nor would there be such a shortage of carers.

[Candycoco]

Of course fostering is a job SoonToBeSix, what a thoughtless comment. I foster as a single carer, 24/7 - cannot work outside of the home and am not allowed to either! So if it's not a job what exactly is it?

Has anyone got a link to the changes? I'm not sure what the difference is as like scarlet5tyger said, you have to inform income support that a placement has ended straight away anyway.

Agree that if fostering was actually given the status and value it deserves, we wouldn't have to rely on benefits to supplement the low fees we receive for a very difficult job.

[scarlet5tyger]

Candy this is from a fostering site. It's from 2011 but nothing had changed at my last interview.

Universal Credit

[Yuleloglatte]

If you have to take 6 months off, they may pay a fostering or adoption allowance during that time. But it seems fair enough that one of you can get a job outside the home.

[Candycoco]

Thanks scarlet, that was useful to read.

[SoonToBeSix]

Candy

[Candycoco]

Soontobesix - I think you'll find what that is referring to is the fact that we are not employed By the local authority. We receive an allowance/fee for providing a service. That does not mean we are not doing a job! Similarly those foster carers who work but opt to be self employed, are they not doing a job?

[Littlemeg37]

Fostering is a definitely a job, I am a single foster carer for the LA and register as self employed (it does say that you should do this now)and claim WTC. As I receive WTC it does away with having to attend back to work meetings if you have a placement gap over 8 weeks, maybe you should be registering as self employed, as a foster carer you are classed as earning zero so get full WTC.

[scarlet5tyger]

Littlemeg I am registered as self employed, but was told by the Benefits Agency that I'd be better off on Income Support. It entitles me to free prescriptions and dentist (which admittedly isn't actually a lot!). Does WTC pay different amounts according to your fostering allowance? (My LA pays around £140 per week)

[scarlet5tyger]

Sorry, just seen that the allowance isn't taken I to account regardless of amount. Do you mind me asking how much full WTC is?

[Littlemeg37]

scarlet5tyger because I have a children of my own, one who is just 13, I get child tax credits also so mine is £239.39 per week, I was on Income support (Universal Credit hasn't started where I am yet) until I sat and worked out that I would be a fair bit better off going self employed and going to the CAB to double check i was doing the right thing. My son aged 13 is adopted and I get an adoption allowance for him, on income support they deducted most of this off the component I got for him, with WTC they don't do that. I also still get free prescriptions and dental treatment.

Even if it was a little bit less it just does away with having to keep going to the job centre for interviews and gets around having to look for work when you don't have a child placed for a while.