Foster carers in Glasgow are struggling to cover the cost of raising a child with many left 'unable to provide the level of care children need' due to the cost of living crisis.
The city's foster care system has been described as 'in crisis' following a decade-long freeze on child allowances with many not seeing their income change in over 10 years.
Experienced carers say they are being 'forced out' of the profession due to the underfunding.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has warned that the majority of carers in Glasgow face a 'difficult winter ahead' due to another year of real-terms cuts to their income and has called on Glasgow City Council to take emergency action.
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Carers submitted an official complaint to the council this July, after the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board (GCIJB) decided to implement smaller increases of between 6 and 8 percent for a minority of foster carers and kinship carers in the city (40%).
The union has said that the majority of foster carers across Glasgow are facing a 28% real-terms cut to their child allowance incomes after the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board refused to implement a 10% increase voted through by the council in February’s budget.
Figures show that 60% of Scotland's foster carers currently can't cover the full cost of raising a child on the allowance with many forced to leave the system for private agencies. They say they are being left unable to provide the level of care children need.
Carers submitted an official complaint to the council this July and are set to demonstrate in George Square to demand action. They are calling for the 10% child allowance increase voted through in February’s budget, an increase in the foster carer fees, which haven’t changed since 2009, an increase in fuel allowances and free school meals for foster children, council tax exemptions, and other support currently available for people on universal credit.
Elaine Watson, foster carer, said: "All year, everything has been going up. My food bill is skyrocketing and my heating bills are three times higher than this time last year. But my income hasn’t changed in nearly a decade.
"We are professionals who work hard to give the children in our care the best start in life. After working tirelessly through the pandemic with little support, we feel undervalued and we are denied a real voice in the decision-making processes that impact us and the children in our care.
"After making commitments to end the freeze on our child allowances, the council has failed to deliver increases for most foster carers and it has denied us a seat at the table. If Glasgow City Council does not take urgent measures to tackle the cost of living crisis, we will continue to see experienced carers forced out of the profession."
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "While discussions remain ongoing between Scottish Government and COSLA around a national decision on fostering fees and allowances, Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board agreed in March to an increase to the kinship and foster carer allowances for the 40% of cases in Glasgow where they are currently paid below the proposed national allowance level.
“This agreement was honoured and as a result payment to kinship and foster carers with children aged between 0-10 years has been made. Kinship and foster carers with children aged 0-4 years have had payments increase from £137.18 to £146 per week, and kinship and foster carers with children aged 5-10 years have had payments increase from £156.30 per week to £170 per week. This was released for payment on 17th May 2022 for foster carers and 17th June 2022 for kinship carers and was backdated to 28th March 2022.”
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) will be holding a demonstration in George Square on Wednesday, September 28, at 12pm.
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