Staying Put Policy

1. Introduction

A Staying Put arrangement is where a Former Relevant child, after ceasing to be Looked After, remains in the former foster home where they were placed immediately before they ceased to be Looked After, beyond  the age of 18.

It is the duty of the local authority:

• To monitor the Staying Put arrangement; and
• To provide advice, assistance and support to the Former Relevant child and the former foster parent with a view to maintaining the Staying Put arrangement (this must include financial support), until the child reaches the age of 21 (unless the local authority consider that the Staying Put arrangement is not consistent with the child’s welfare).

Under the Care Leavers (England) Regulations 2010, Planning Transition into Adulthood for Care Leavers Guidance and Government Staying Put Guidance (2013), the Local Authority must provide information about extending placements beyond the age of 18. 

The intention of Staying Put arrangements is to ensure that young people can remain with their former foster carers until they are prepared for adulthood, can experience a transition akin to their peers, avoid social exclusion and be more likely to avert a subsequent housing and tenancy breakdown.

(Note that the term ‘arrangement’ should be used rather than ‘placement’ - the term ‘placement’ denotes a situation where the local authority arranged and placed the child with a foster carer. Once the child reaches the age of eighteen and legal adulthood, the local authority is no longer making a placement, but facilitating a Staying Put arrangement for the young person.)

Consideration will need to be given to the impact on foster carers' approval and their terms of approval, including the numbers approved for, and whether this number includes the Staying Put young person.

2. Criteria for Continuing a Fostering Placement as a Staying Put Arrangement

Staying Put is available for any Eligible child who wishes to remain with their former Foster Carer beyond their 18th Birthday. The Foster Carer  must agree with this arrangement and be willing to commit their continued support to the young person.

Plans for the Eligible child to stay put, will be explicit in their Pathway Plan taking into consideration their best interests, welfare and wishes.

Staying Put is not available for young people who are Qualifying Care Leavers under The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000.

3. Planning

For a young person living in foster care, the first Looked After Review following his or her 16th birthday should consider whether a Staying Put arrangement should be an option. This will entail assessing the implications for both the young person and the foster carer.

When carrying out an assessment of an Eligible child’s needs, the local authority must determine whether it would be appropriate to provide advice, assistance and support to facilitate a Staying Put arrangement. Where they determine that it would be appropriate, and where the child and the local authority foster parent wish to make a Staying Put arrangement, then the local authority must provide such advice, assistance and support to facilitate a Staying Put arrangement.

At the commencement of a Staying Put arrangement, the young person will have a Support Plan in addition to a Pathway Plan. These plans should set out the practical arrangements regarding the young person remaining as a young adult in the Staying Put arrangement. Many of these will be an extension of the expectations on them when they were a foster child and cover arrangements such as:

• Preparation for adulthood and independence tasks;
• Finance, including young people having credit cards, loan agreements and mobile phone contracts registered at the address;
• Income and benefit claims;
• Family, friends and partners visiting and staying at the address;
• Staying away for nights/weekends and informing carers of movements;
• Education, training and employment activities;
• Health arrangements;
• Move-on arrangements;
• Issues related to younger foster care children in the placement, i.e. safeguarding, being a positive role model and time-keeping;
• Hobbies/leisure activities;
• The Support Plan will set out the detail regarding who will be supporting the young person in their transition to adulthood and how this will happen. The Support Plan will be regularly reviewed at a maximum of six-monthly intervals. The Support Plan will be drawn up by the young person, the carer, the young person’s Staying Put Support Worker and their Personal Advisor. The Support Plan will assist in monitoring the Staying Put arrangement, to ensure the young person is receiving appropriate, effective support to achieve their goals;
• The young person and carer will also sign a Licence Agreement which is required as part of the young person’s Housing Benefit application and further assists in terms of helping the young person understand the responsibilities associated with holding a tenancy in their own right.

4. Legal Status and Safeguarding

Following the young person's 18th birthday, the legal basis on which they occupy the property (former foster home) changes (the legal term is that the young person becomes an 'excluded licensee' lodging in the home) - this should not denote that the young person will be treated differently than they were as a fostered child. In addition, the carer may also become, and be deemed, the young person’s landlord/landlady. To support this change and any Housing Benefit application, the young person and carer will sign a Licence Agreement. If the arrangement is not deemed to be a commercial arrangement and Housing Benefit is therefore not claimable, the Licence Agreement should not be signed and rent will be covered by the Dorset Council Staying Put Grant.

The associated change from foster child to adult member of the household, and for the carer from foster carer to Staying Put carer, (technically the young person’s landlord) should be carefully and sensitively planned in order to ensure that both young people and the carer/s understand the nature of the arrangement and that the positive aspects of being in foster care are not diminished by the new legal and financial arrangements and terminology.

When it is identified that a Staying Put arrangement is being considered by the foster carer and the young person, discussions about the suitability of this arrangement should be had at the earliest opportunity. These discussions must include the young person, foster carer, young person’s social worker, foster carer’s social worker, and ICRM.

Six months before the young person reaches the age of 18, plans around the financial and practical aspects of the Staying Put arrangement should be fully discussed and agreed with the foster carer and young person.

The content and reason for the Licence Agreement should be fully explained to the young person. It is a legal document and the young person should understand the change in their carer’s role in law.

The Staying Put arrangement will be regularly reviewed at Support Plan Reviews, on at least a six-monthly basis, to ensure that the arrangement is working effectively for the young person.

The Staying Put carer will have regular 6 weekly support visits from the Staying Put support worker, to offer advice and assistance. Additionally the Health & Safety requirements of the household can be checked at these sessions and the Staying Put support worker will check and sign the Log Book, payment records and the Incident Log, where relevant.

All household members or regular visitors, over the age of 18, to the house will need an up to date DBS. Named individual(s) providing cover, in the event that the carer is away on holiday or overnight, must have an up to date DBS check. It is the carers responsibility to ensure that they let their Staying Put support worker know the details of these individuals so that timely DBS checks can be carried out.

Staying Put carers will be invited to continue to attend regular training through the Fostering Team and Supported Lodgings scheme.

Where Foster Children are Living in the Staying Put Arrangement

Where fostered children are living in the household, the checks and requirements associated with fostering legislation will apply and will provide a framework for safeguarding and checking arrangements for the whole household.

In these situations the carer must remain an approved foster carer and the Fostering Services (England) Regulations and Guidance will apply with the consequential requirements of supervision, review and safeguarding. Whilst the fostering legislation will primarily apply to the placements of the fostered children, it does ensure that a system of approval, checking and supervision is applied to the whole household.

Additionally, where foster children are in placement, the foster carers will need to be returned to the fostering panel due to a change in circumstances as the child/young person Staying Put will have reached adulthood and become an adult member of the fostering household.

Young people remaining in a foster care household at the age of eighteen will become adult members of the household and will require a valid Disclosure and Barring Service check in settings where a foster child or foster children are living. To ensure that the check (and possible subsequent risk assessment) is completed by the young person’s eighteenth birthday the process will need to commence in sufficient time.

Where No Foster Children are Living in the Staying Put Arrangement

From the age of eighteen, young people are no longer legally ‘in care’ or ‘looked after’, and therefore fostering arrangements and legislation relating to children placed with foster carers no longer apply. Whilst legislation relating to fostering will no longer apply (if no foster child remains in the household), key standards should continue to govern the expectations of the Staying Put arrangement.

In circumstances where it is clear that the carer will not be fostering any further children, it may be deemed appropriate to terminate their approval as a foster carer. In situations where it is possible that they may foster again in the future, it would be inappropriate to terminate their approval; given the length of time that re-approval would take. Where a foster carer’s approval is terminated, the local authority will need to ensure that the Staying Put arrangement continues to meet appropriate standards.

5. Financial Implications

5.1 Staying Put Allowances

The DfE, DWP and HMRC Guidance for Staying Put arrangements May 2013: Staying put: arrangements for care leavers aged 18 years and above (DfE).

When a Staying Put arrangement starts, the Fostering Allowance and Fee will cease to be paid, as this is no longer a foster placement.

Payments made to carers will be defined as Staying Put Support Payments and will be calculated in line with payments previously received for the fostering allowance and fee. Deductions will be made for clothing, travel and pocket money costs, as these will no longer be paid to the carer for the young person, who will be eligible to claim welfare benefits when they are 18 years old. Some young people will be in employment and in receipt of wages to cover these costs.

If the carer and young person are able to enter into a commercial arrangement and claim Housing Benefit, an application for Housing Benefit will be made by the young person. The amount of Housing Benefit paid to the young person will be deducted from the Staying Put Support Payment. The payable sum will vary slightly across different districts within the county of Dorset, in line with Local Housing Allowance rates. Housing Benefit can be paid directly to the carer, where appropriate.

The remainder of the Staying Put Support Payment is a weekly payment for the support the carer will provide to meet the young person’s identified needs as detailed in their Support Plan plus a weekly rent for the young person’s room.

If the carer and young person are unable to enter into a commercial arrangement, the young person will not be eligible to claim Housing Benefit. In this case, the Staying Put Support Payment will consist of a weekly payment for the support the carer will provide to meet the young person’s identified needs detailed in their Support Plan plus a weekly rent for the young person’s room. The rent will be in line with the current Local Housing Allowance rate.

If a young person is in employment, an individual assessment of the situation will be completed. To ensure that young people have the incentive to continue in employment or training, up to £90.00 of a young person’s weekly take home earnings will be disregarded towards the rent in the Staying Put arrangement. Any take home earnings over £90.00 per week will be calculated and 50% of this excess given to the carer by the young person towards their rent. If the young person isn’t eligible to claim Housing Benefit, the remaining rent will be paid through Staying Put Support Payments.

All young people will be expected to make a weekly contribution to the carer for food and utilities either from their welfare benefit payments or earnings from employment.

For National Insurance Contributions purposes, HMRC will treat the taxable profit from foster care or Staying Put care as earnings from self-employment. Foster care and Staying Put care is deemed as self-employment and as such, carers should register as self-employed. All self-employed people aged 16 and over who are below State Pension age are liable and must register to pay Class 2 National Insurance Contributions

External arrangements, i.e. with IFAs, will need to be individually assessed and spot-purchased by the Contracts and Commissioning Team within Dorset Council. These arrangements will require approval by the Head of Service.

5.2 Additional Allowances

The young person’s Personal Advisor will assess any requests for contributions towards holiday costs, through the Pathway Plan.

A young person living with their Staying Put carer will no longer receive birthday and Christmas/festival allowances.

5.3 Financial Contributions From Young People

The young person will make a weekly contribution to their Staying Put carer for food and utilities. These payments will come from welfare benefit payments or from their weekly wages if they are working.

Where eligible, the young person will also make an application for Housing Benefit which can be paid directly to the carers, where appropriate. The young person and carer will sign a Licence Agreement to underpin the arrangement and support the Housing Benefit application.

If a young person is in employment, up to £90.00 of their weekly take home earnings will be disregarded towards the rent in the Staying Put arrangement. Any earnings over £90.00 per week will be calculated and 50% of this excess will be contributed by the young person towards their rent.

5.4 Means Tested Benefits

Where:

• A young person continues to reside with their former foster carer after their eighteenth birthday on a non-commercial and familial basis; and 
• The child was Looked After immediately prior to their eighteenth birthday; and 
• The payments are made by the local authority to the carer under section 23C of the Children Act 1989 (continuing functions in respect of former relevant children);

then the payments are disregarded in calculating the carers’ entitlement to means-tested benefits. 

When a commercial arrangement is made, (i.e. any element of the cost of the arrangement comes from a source other than section 23C), the non-section 23C element will be taken into account in the calculation of the carer’s own means-tested benefit claim.  

Additionally, the disregard is lost on the whole payment (section 23C and non-section 23C elements) when the young person first leaves the Staying Put arrangement, should the young person return to their former foster/Staying Put carer or move to another carer after their eighteenth birthday.

5.5 Housing Benefit/Universal Credit

There may be Housing Benefit implications as a result of Staying Put Arrangements. Housing Benefit is, however, being replaced by Universal Credit. Individual advice will therefore need to be obtained

Rent will be set in line with Local Housing Allowance rates, which vary between districts within Dorset. See:

• Dorsetforyou Housing Benefit website;
• Local Housing Allowance: LHA bedroom calculator (DirectGov).

5.6 Council Tax and Council Tax Benefit

The position regarding Council Tax will vary depending on the circumstances of the carers, the number of adults in the household and the activity that the young person is engaged in.

Young people undertaking full time education are ‘invisible’ for council tax purposes.

Please see the following Dorsetforyou pages:

• Council Tax;
• Council Tax discounts or excemptions.

5.7 His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Income Tax and National Insurance

For HMRC purposes only, there is a broader definition of ‘Staying Put. A ‘Staying Put’ carer (for HMRC purposes only) does not need to be a registered foster carer or former foster carer. This means that  young people are able to return to a different Staying Put carer between the age of 18 and 21 (or until the completion of an education or training course) - for example during a university vacation. 

Where a Staying Put arrangement meets the HMRC qualifying criteria  (and where the young adult continues to be cared for as a member of the carer’s family) the Income Tax and National Insurance rules that apply to foster carers are extended to Staying Put carers. The young people are required to share the Staying Put carers’ home and daily family life during the placement’ i.e. live as a ‘member of the carer’s family’. This system provides for foster carers and/or Staying Put carers to earn up to a given amount without paying Income Tax or Class 4 National Insurance Contributions on their caring income.

The Income Tax free allowance consists of two elements. Firstly, a fixed amount per foster care or Staying Put household. Secondly, an additional amount per week per child. 

Where there is more than one paid Staying Put carer in the household, the allowance is shared equally by both carers.

The tax free allowance only applies to the Staying Put carer’s income from caring. If they have income from other sources, they will pay tax on that income in the normal manner.

Individual carers can consult their local HMRC office for guidance on their circumstances and liabilities.

For National Insurance Contributions purposes, in practice HMRC will treat the taxable profit from foster care or Staying Put care as earnings from self-employment. Foster care and Staying Put care is deemed as self-employment and as such carers should register as self-employed. All self-employed people aged 16 and over who are below State Pension age are liable and must register to pay Class 2 National Insurance Contributions.

The DfE, DWP and HMRC Guidance for Staying Put arrangements May 2013: Staying put: arrangements for care leavers aged 18 years and above (DfE).

5.8 Insurance (Including Liability and Household Insurance) 

Staying Put carers will be provided with information about liability insurance cover in situations where Staying Put young people may make an allegation against a foster child in placement, or against their Staying Put carer/s, or an allegation is made against the Staying Put young person. The majority of foster carers hold public liability insurance stemming from their local authority membership of Fostering Network or the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

Dorset Council will ensure that Staying Put carers hold adequate Public Liability Insurance.

6. Ending of Staying Put Arrangements

The Staying Put arrangement extends until:

• The young person leaves the Staying Put arrangement;
  
  or

• The young person reaches their twenty-first birthday;
  
  or
• The young person completes a programme of education or training (which may extend beyond their twenty-first birthday).

Procedures should be agreed at the outset about how any wish by the carer to bring the arrangement to an end should be managed. An excluded licensee can be asked to leave the property by the Staying Put carer, who must give ‘reasonable notice’ of at least 28 days. In extreme circumstances, it may be considered reasonable for the carer to give very short notice and ask the young person to leave on the same day.

Appendices

Click here to see Appendix 1: Licence Agreement

Click here to see Appendix 2: Support Plan