Providing greater support for Care Leavers through Council Tax Relief Public Consultation

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This consultation has now closed.

Overview

All Local Authorities have a special responsibility for the wellbeing of Children in Care and Care Leavers. Like any good parent, it should put its own children first. This role is known as being a Corporate Parent, and as Corporate Parents, Barnet wants to support all children and young people to achieve the best in their childhood, adolescence and adulthood. We know that as parents we will not always get things right, but we have pledged to our Children in Care and Care Leavers to do our best.

There are currently more than 200 Care Leavers in Barnet, many of whom have experienced challenges in childhood and adolescence. These care leavers have been, or are being, looked after by Barnet Council and are now moving into independent living. This is often their first experience of having to manage a budget on their own.

As part of supporting our Care Leavers the council is proposing to offer our Care Leavers additional Council Tax Relief or offer access to a Support Grant so they do not pay Council Tax. By providing further relief we will be giving Barnet Care Leavers the additional support required to help prepare them for independence as any good parent would want. You can read the full proposals which was approved at Policy and Resources Committee here, and a summary of the proposals can be found here.

We want to give all Barnet Care Leavers the opportunity to have their say on these proposals before a decision is made. We have written to all care leavers inviting them to take part in this consultation. We also want to hear the views of residents.

Give us your views

Please take the time to read our consultation summary and then give us your views on our proposals by completing the online questionnaire.

For any further information, or to request a questionnaire in an alternative format, please email laurelle.brown@barnet.gov.uk or telephone 020 8359 2322. Alternatively, you can write to us at Strategy and Insight Team, London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London, N11 1NP.

A final decision will be made at Policy and Resources Committee on 11th June 2018.

Overview

All Local Authorities have a special responsibility for the wellbeing of Children in Care and Care Leavers. Like any good parent, it should put its own children first. This role is known as being a Corporate Parent, and as Corporate Parents, Barnet wants to support all children and young people to achieve the best in their childhood, adolescence and adulthood. We know that as parents we will not always get things right, but we have pledged to our Children in Care and Care Leavers to do our best.

There are currently more than 200 Care Leavers in Barnet, many of whom have experienced challenges in childhood and adolescence. These care leavers have been, or are being, looked after by Barnet Council and are now moving into independent living. This is often their first experience of having to manage a budget on their own.

As part of supporting our Care Leavers the council is proposing to offer our Care Leavers additional Council Tax Relief or offer access to a Support Grant so they do not pay Council Tax. By providing further relief we will be giving Barnet Care Leavers the additional support required to help prepare them for independence as any good parent would want. You can read the full proposals which was approved at Policy and Resources Committee here, and a summary of the proposals can be found here.

We want to give all Barnet Care Leavers the opportunity to have their say on these proposals before a decision is made. We have written to all care leavers inviting them to take part in this consultation. We also want to hear the views of residents.

Give us your views

Please take the time to read our consultation summary and then give us your views on our proposals by completing the online questionnaire.

For any further information, or to request a questionnaire in an alternative format, please email laurelle.brown@barnet.gov.uk or telephone 020 8359 2322. Alternatively, you can write to us at Strategy and Insight Team, London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London, N11 1NP.

A final decision will be made at Policy and Resources Committee on 11th June 2018.

This consultation has now closed.

  • We Asked, You Said, We Did

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    We Asked

    There are currently more than 200 care leavers in Barnet, many of whom have experienced challenges in childhood and adolescents. We asked if you thought we should help these Care Leavers (up to the age of 25) by providing Council Tax Relief.

    You Said

    Residents were invited to complete an online questionnaire to give us your views. 21 residents kindly completed the questionnaire with 90% agreeing Barnet Council should help Care Leavers by providing Council Tax Relief. Other feedback included the possibility of extending the support past the first two years and 79% felt the relief should be reduced to nil where a Care Leaver is jointly liable for Council Tax.

    We Did

    The results of this questionnaire, along with additional supporting evidence, were taken to a full meeting of the authority at Hendon Town Hall on 31 July 2018. We are pleased to say that this request was passed during this meeting and the policy is now in place. Thank you to everyone for taking time to give your views and enabling this to happen.