3.13.4 Leaving Care Budget, Allowances and Benefits |
RELATED CHAPTERS
This chapter should be read in conjunction with the Leaving Care Procedure and the Minimum Standards for Support Packages for Care Leavers Procedure and the more detailed guidance in the Leaving Care Handbook
Contents
1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to clarify responsibility for the financial arrangements under the Leaving Care budget for Eligible Young People.
Responsibility for this budget rests with the Leaving Care Team and yet case accountability for Eligible Young Persons remains with the Looked After Teams.
Section 5, Leaving Care Allowances and Welfare Benefits also contains additional information in relation Leaving Care Allowances and Welfare Benefits
2. Placements
Authorisation for placement costs will continue in the usual way. However, to enable transfer from the baseline budget to the Leaving Care budget, Looked After Team Managers must authorise the costs on Form LCE001 when a young person becomes an Eligible Young Person i.e. on their 16th birthday.
Subsequent placement moves must be notified by completing further LCE001’s. These forms will also be used for budget monitoring by the cost centre management and auditors.
Team Managers will receive a quarterly leaving care budget summary from the Leaving Care Team Manager, which will identify actual spend against projected spend. Any concerns regarding projected overspends will be discussed at the Team Managers’ service meeting.
Requests for agency placements post-16 must go to the Agency Panel and the Leaving Care Team Manager and Service Manager should be informed of any placement commitment that may exceed the young person’s 18th birthday by age 17½.
3. Financial Assistance
It is expected that all the young person’s needs shall be meet within the CLA provision. However, for those financial requests over and above the CLA provision, these must be submitted to the Leaving Care Team Manager for authorisation.
This financial assistance should be based upon identified need and recorded in the Pathway Plan’s financial section. Once authorised by the Leaving Care Team Manager, in conjunction with the LAC Team Manager, routine payments may be authorised by the LAC Team Manager. Any ongoing changes to payment must result in a review of the Pathway Plan.
4. Disputes
Any concerns regarding authorisation should be resolved between the relevant Unit Mangers whenever possible. If this is not resolved then the relevant Service Managers should be informed.
5. Leaving Care Allowances and Welfare Benefits
Under The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, the local authority has a primary income maintenance role for Eligible and Relevant Young People, who are either in college or are unemployed.
Relevant young people who are being financially supported by the local authority and are living in a household of a benefit claimant should not be included in the benefit assessment of that claimant.
5.1 Relevant Young People’s allowances and contact arrangements
The Personal Adviser should inform the young person in receipt of a Leaving Care weekly allowance that: -
- If the young person has not been in contact for a three weeks consecutive period the allowance will cease
This is because the Leaving Care Team needs to know if a Relevant Young Person is working and without contact this cannot be clarified. Also, there may be concerns about the young person’s welfare. - If the young person starts work, he or she needs to inform the Personal Adviser, who may reassess financial assistance and any contributions from the young person. Failure to provide confirmation of earnings shall end all payments of the Leaving Care Allowance.
- If the young person fails to inform the Personal Adviser that he or she is working, Court action may be pursued.
- If the young person is able to secure work but is not motivated to look for work or undertake other EET activities then the Personal Adviser can review the allowance and change to ensuring half is paid in food vouchers.
- If the young person is not budgeting, then the allowance can be divided for payments throughout the week.
5.2 Calculating allowance entitlements for working Relevant Young People
The finance department will do this when the LCR001 form has been received. The calculation formula is set out in the Financial Guidance Section (page 9 and 13) of the Leaving Care Handbook.
5.3 Paying accommodation charges
These should be paid directly to the landlord and the Personal Adviser/social worker must complete an LCR001. An end payment form must be completed when the young person has moved, to avoid rent over payments.
A young person can only be paid rent directly if he or she is at university and this must be authorised by the Leaving Care Team Manager. Monitoring arrangements to ensure the rent is paid to the landlord must be agreed.
5.4 Back Pay for Relevant Young People
This may only occur in exceptional circumstances and the Team Manager will require evidence that they have not been working. The Team Manager will seek advice from the Citizen Advice Bureau for these applications.
5.5 Disqualification from benefits
Eligible and Relevant Young People will not be entitled to Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or Housing Benefit until they reach aged 18.
“Eligible” and “Relevant” lone parents and disabled young people will continue to be eligible for benefits, including Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support and any other benefits due to them because of their disability or parental status. They will not however be entitled to Housing Benefit.
5.6 Other 16 and 17 year-old care leavers who remain entitled to benefits
Qualifying Young People will remain entitled to claim benefits. Any assistance provided by the local authority is disregarded for the purpose of calculating entitlement to welfare benefits.
5.7 Transitional Arrangements
The DWP website (benefits and services A-Z) provides user-friendly information on all benefits.
Relevant Young People on reaching age 18 will become Former Relevant Young Persons and may need to apply for benefits, as the local authority will no longer be their primary source of income. The Personal Adviser should support them in their benefit claim and ensure the appropriate standard letter is attached to support the claim.
The action required in the transition to claiming benefits should be identified in the Pathway Plan at least a month in advance of their 18th birthday. The Personal Adviser should check that the young person has the correct documentation for identity.
The weekly allowance shall continue for only one week after the young person’s 18th birthday. This shall give them the opportunity to ensure applications and other documentation is submitted.
If the young person’s benefits are delayed because not all documentation has been received, s/he is able to apply for a crisis loan from the Social Fund (the local authority will not provide funding in these circumstances). Also, if all the documentation has been received to process the claim, the Department of Work and Pensions are able to make interim payments on account. If the young person is refused, Welfare Rights should be contacted for advice.
A payment should only be made in exceptional circumstance and should be authorised by the Leaving Care Team Manager, who will require evidence that welfare rights have been involved, the claim is in process, all other DWP sources have attempted to be accessed and preparation for the transition pre aged 18 occurred.
Such payments are disregarded by the benefits agency.
A payment should not be given to young people whose claims are delayed because they have not submitted all the relevant documentation to process their claim. They may be able to receive a DWP hardship provision, which is a reduced amount of Job Seeker’s Allowance. Care leavers are identified as one of the vulnerable groups if they have left care within three years and would usually be paid the next time they would have received Job Seeker’s Allowance if it had not been cancelled.
5.8 Housing Benefit
The only occasion that the local authority would pay the rent while housing benefit is in process is in local authority-arranged supported lodgings provisions. On these occasions all Housing Benefit documentation must be in process and the landlord must repay the local authority once s/he receives Housing Benefit payments.
5.9 Single room rent restriction
Care leavers renting from the private sector are exempt from the single room rent restriction until their 22nd birthday. This should be pointed out when the application for Housing Benefit is made and the Personal Adviser should provide written clarification that the young person is a care leaver.
5.10 Support to seek employment
A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) job grant (between £100- £250) is available to young people who were on Job Seeker’s Allowance and who secure employment (minimum 16 hours and likely to last minimum 5 weeks.)
Once DWP have been informed, young people who start work (if over 16 hours and to remain in employment for a minimum of 4 weeks) are able to receive a 4 week extended payment of housing benefit and council tax benefit for an extra 4 weeks.
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