Council says fostering allowance puts us over housing association threshold

[Malinoismum]

Hi everyone, I'll try to keep this brief. Last year we were asked by CSS to apply to foster our DGC ( G13 B12 ). Of course, we said yes and it went through court in December. We decided to wait a year before applying for special guardianship as visiting was not set up with biological parents. We were the only ones who passed assessment, so the alternative would have been a foster home.
We live in a very small 2 bed HA bungalow. We are both disabled and are in 50s so bungalow was ideal when just us. However, with the DGC, plus a dog, it is a nightmare!
The DGD has taken over living room , there's clothes and stuff everywhere, no room fir visitors or sleepovers. No space for anyone, kids are always moaning about it, and it's really affecting everyone's mental health.
We applied for homechoice with council and they say with the foster allowance we are above threshold for HA property and the advise to rent privately. I hate the thought of not having the security of a HA property, and it's really getting me down. I wanted to do the best for these kids but I am failing them 😪 CSS and kids school wrote supporting letters but did not help, and no one seems to want to swap.
I feel so low.

Have HA said if you’re allowed to swap?

Neither of you work?

You need to appeal this! Fostering allowance is not viewed as income but as reimbursement of expenses for the care you are providing. You are doing a great thing!

Yes, but it seems nobody wants a 2 bed bungalow this small

No, I broke my neck and DP broke his back ( separate accidents ). But I have worked very hard before this.

Thanks so much. We appealed and was refused. I thought it would not be counted as income but it is, as they have told me on several occasions

It doesn't sound fair at all. Have you tried to contact your MP? They have case workers who can sort out these sort of "computer says no" situations that make no sense as you are actually doing an amazing thing for your DGC.

Are you a member of Foster talk or Fostering Network? You may have been joined automatically when you were approved as carers. They can provide legal advice and advocacy.

https://frg.org.uk/FandFCForum/viewtopic.php?t=84

Have a look at this specialist site and kinship forum - others have been in your situation and kept fighting the HA - your council should tell them that if you chose to put your dear GC into LA care due to overcrowding the fostering allowance paid to strangers would be a lot more than them accommodating your needs.

Please don't give up on the HA accommodation fight as private rental would give you no security .

As a short term solution, would it not make sense for the childten to have the bedrooms, and you and DH to have a (good quality) sofa bed or murphy bed in the living room, as being adults you'd keep the space clean and tidy for daytime use.

Good idea giving DGC the bedrooms meantime, is a loft conversion (with permission) an option? Any space in garden for summer house or similar so there’s at least somewhere else to go during day? How big is the dog?

You’re doing a great thing OP but with ages of kids and cost of moving if you can find a way to manage without all being driven nuts for next 5-6 years chances are they might be away to study then.

Can Social Services have words

Does the council count your living room as a bedroom for overcrowding rules? If so you might be screwed anyway in the number of bedrooms.

I think a Murphy bed or similar for the adults in the living room is a good idea while you look into the fostering side. It's a real blow though, kinship carers give SO much to society for so little reward and it really doesn't sound fair. But much as I know it would be a compromise for you to sleep in the living room, by putting DGD's stuff (and later her homework, and friends) into a private space rather than the main living area might be the best way to reclaim your home and sanity. Can you improve the storage? Build in floor to ceiling storage for everyone and/or Ottoman beds. If you post a floorplan on the property & DIY board and specify that it's a HA property and you are not moving walls or doors, you could get some great ideas on how to maximise storage & make it feel as spacious as possible. My teens have one 75cm IKEA pax each for all the clothes they own, replacing both wardrobe and chest of drawers in about half the footprint. Things like this make a huge difference to the space.

She says they have written a supporting letter. That's the limit of their power.

I agree with this, this is exactly the kind of situation your MP and their case workers can help navigate, their contact details will be publicly available and there avoid also be a regular face to face surgery meeting you can attend.

I agree it’s worth trying your MP and local councillor. Possibly also worth asking Shelter or Citizens Advice for help.

I'm surprised you get the fostering allowance. My friend was told they didn't get it as family fostering, which seemed unfair as she was having to give up her job for the needs of the children.

This is ridiculous. The household income limit that some local authorities impose for those looking to join the social housing register probably hasn’t been reviewed for years. As you say fostering allowance is not really an income but an allowance for contributions towards the expenses that you have of raising those children on behalf of the local authority rather than bringing them into care.

Fight this from two angles- 1. the household income hasn’t been increased for years and isn’t indicative of reality. The aim of it is so that social housing is only provided to those who cant afford to buy their own property or are comfortable in the private sector rental.
2 The injustice that it is fostering allowance. It’s often disregarded as an income.

It's not actually a fostering allowance OP gets it's a special guardianship allowance which is slightly different. Regardless, if the local authority places a child with you, you're entitled to an allowance. If you decide off your own back to care for a child with their parent's consent then it's a family arrangement and no allowance will be paid. Local authorities should not treat an arrangement like a family arrangement if they would otherwise place the child out of the home.

She said in the OP she waited a year to apply for special guardianship. I read it that they are special guardians, rather than connected foster carers but on re-reading it appears they haven't applied yet.

The MP won’t do anything if the council are working in accordance with their housing allocation policy. What the op could do is make a homeless application as they are probably classed as statutory overcrowded. However there is no guarantee to social housing taking that route.

Can you stop claiming so you are below the threshold and then reapply down the line, or is that not allowed?

If not then go back to social services and see if they can put pressure on, at their ages I’m surprised SS expected them to share a room.