Delayed payment

[ChaulkyHill]

Hi all foster carers!

Our payments (for respite care, disabled children, Council) have been late two months in a row despite handing in everything on time and endless emails to check and remind. Dec. is not yet payed and they have not said when they will pay. In March we will take the big step to begin with full time fostering (still with the Council) and we are concerned that late payment and lots of chasing up may be something common in main stream fostering too. We would be very grateful if you wanted to share your experiences (both council or private agency) since we feel uncertain what to expect. How did you deal with delays? Is it common? They have told us that it is mainly the respite payments that don't work out. Is this your experience too? Thank you for help. We feel unsure what to expect which is worrying

That's terrible. I work through a fostering agency and my money is in the bank last day of the month every month. My sister works for the LA on a zero hours contract and her pay is regularly wrong. Holiday pay missed, overtime not paid etc. She has a constant battle to get paid properly. I'd be fostering via an agency. I think the pay is better than LA anyway - although the children can be more challenging. LA tends to give older children who have behavioural issues to the agencies. Easy to place babies they place themselves.

Thank you GinisLife! It is really valuable to hear your experience. We should consider agency/LA. What you say about that the children from the agencies may have more behavioural issues is also helpful to know when weighing everything up. Is the support good otherwise where you work, like the supervision and training and out of hours? We have been happy with other things, just not the pay trouble.

I see my SSW every month and can ring her if I need her. I can ring the office as well and know them all. We go out for Christmas lunch paid for by the agency. We get a hamper as well. Flowers for 5 year service anniversary. Birthday card. The only time I've rung the out of hours they were useless - but then I was only trying to prove a point to my FS 😂. To be fair I have a very easy child and don't ever need them. Not sure you'd get all this from the LA. We're lucky my FS has had the same social worker got over 2 years. My friends kids have had loads of social workers. They don't even learn their names and they've moved on 😂😂

My money is paid from the L.A. every week on time,on a Wednesday I receive an email then Friday my money is in the bank .

Thank you again GinisLife; I'm happy for you that your support is good and what you are saying gives us something to think about. Changing to an agency would be a big step for us but not excluded.

Thank you also bexollie for sharing that the L.A are paying you reliably. Do they also manage extra things like mileage payments without delay and without you having to chase it?

thanks, your input really helps

Also with an agency and payment, training and support have all been great. We have regular support group meetings with other foster carers from the agency too, which are really helpful.

At our last one, there was a big discussion about how awful LA payments are getting, always late or wrong etc. Doesn’t sound good to me.

Hi

You say in your original post you currently offer respite for children with additional needs.

I don’t know what types of additional needs and disabilities you currently cater for but there are IFAs who specialise in placing disabled children?

It means you get a high level of support, training and higher allowances without placing the children with challenging behaviour usually associated with IFAs.

It is a different kind of challenge of course and some of the children have very complex needs but it may be worth considering?

Yes ,I submit mileage each week and its always paid, I claimed childcare for a course for my daughter and it was paid the foll week
They are very good . I don't get involved with other carers though as it would feel intrusive The child fits in with our family dynamics and he is treated the same as my kids were when they were younger. I don't tend to go out in an evening and I have a friend who sits for me . I'm not sure I'll have respite for him as I wouldn't send my own kids away so wouldn't like to send him either.

Sorry everyone for late reply. By the way, a couple of days ago the December payments did arrive.

Thank you PuppyMonkey for sharing your good experience with the agency and the discussion of your support group and thank you bexoille. Good that both of you have good experiences where you are. What does it mean bexollie, that you claimed childcare for a course and got payed for a week? were you payed extra for taking the course?

Thank you BellaCat123, sounds like a good idea with an independent agency specialised on helping disabled children since if you do that you really can use the support. We considered disabilities but decided for several reasons it would not be right for us for full time although we did enjoy the short break. Now we have heard that many children in main stream may have some disabilities although they are not qualifying as disabled and don't get much support. If it is so then it is really better to go with one of those specialised ones to start with and get good help...

There was a course I did and my daughter was paid childcare payments for having the child Sorry I didn't make that clear

Ok, understand now, thanks