Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.

DEAR Sammy Matthews

Freedom of information request - FOI/7341

Subject: Fostering Allowances 2023/24

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully. 

Kind Regard

Information Management Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Dear Ms Hatcher,

We apologise for the time this is taking to process.

Your request is still receiving attention and we are urgently chasing the
answering department for a response.

Once we have this we will immediately send out to you.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Kind regards,

Information Team

Croydon Council

Dear [email address],

Please can you respond to our FOI request when possible.

Yours sincerely,
Eve Hatcher
The Fostering Network

show quoted sections

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

Dear Sammy Matthews

Request FOI/7341

Further to your request received on 11/04/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
Specifically, you have requested the following information:

We are seeking to understand the way in which your foster carers are being
paid in your service. The department which would know this information
would be within social services in your fostering team. 

The information we require is: 

For your mainstream foster carer population (general/unconnected carers)
the basic weekly allowances paid for 2023/24 per age bracket for all age
bands. NOT including any fee/reward element for foster carers.

Please detail any other allowances paid for children living in mainstream
foster care in addition to their weekly allowance, for example religious
festival, holiday, birthday, other. Please detail the amount paid and the
frequency foster carers can receive these. 

Please detail any additional allowances or fees paid to for children with
additional support needs or disabilities.

Your current fee/reward structure for mainstream foster carers (NB this is
different to allowances for the child). Please include:  

i) Details of the levels/bands for carers and how much you pay per week at
each level/band.  

ii) The number of mainstream foster carers on each level/band, including
those that receive no fee on top of the child’s allowance.

For your kinship foster carer population (connected carers) the basic
weekly allowances paid for 2023/24 per age bracket for all age bands. NOT
including any fee/reward element for foster carers.

Please detail any other allowances paid for children living in kinship
foster care in addition to their weekly allowance, for example religious
festival, holiday, birthday, other. Please detail the amount paid and the
frequency foster carers can receive these.

Your current fee/reward structure for kinship foster carers (NB this is
different to allowances for the child). Please include:  

i) Details of the levels/bands for carers and how much you pay per week at
each level/band.  

ii) The number of kinship foster carers on each level/band, including
those that receive no fee on top of the child’s allowance.

Your 2023-24 weekly allowances for former foster carers looking after
young people in 18+ Staying Put arrangements, broken down by year 1, year
2, and year 3 if necessary.

Your 2023-24 weekly fee payments for former foster carers looking after
young people in 18+ Staying Put arrangements, broken down by year 1, year
2, and year 3 if necessary. 

Most of this information is provided on our website and is therefore
exempt from Croydon Council under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, ‘Information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other
means’.

Section 21 is an absolute exemption and therefore does not require the
public interests balancing test to be applied.  The council can confirm
that the requested information can be accessed through the following link:

[1]Fees and allowances | Croydon Council

Information pertaining to carer bands is as follows:

25 carers on ‘new entry’ band

152 carers on ‘standard’ band

3 carers on ‘enhanced’ band

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[2]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

Email:        [3][Croydon Borough Council request email]

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

[4][Croydon Borough Council request email]

[5][email address]

References

Visible links
1. https://www.croydon.gov.uk/foster-croydo...
2. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
3. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
4. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
5. mailto:[email address]