Staying Put

A Staying Put arrangement is where a Former Relevant child, after ceasing to be Looked After, remains in the former foster home or supported lodging arrangement 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 Guidance Staying Put - Arrangements for Care Leavers Aged 18 and Above to Stay on With Their Former Foster Carers (2013), the Local Authority must provide information about extending foster placements post-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.

Young people living with foster carers supported by independent providers should be treated in the same way as those young people living with local authority in-house foster carers when consideration is given to a 'staying put' arrangement. Local authorities should have discussions with independent fostering providers at an early stage regarding the option of a 'staying put' arrangement. This discussion should include the amount of allowance the local authority will pay the former foster carer.

If a young person feels that his/her wish to remain with their former foster carer has not been properly considered by the local authority or they are unhappy with the way in which the local authority has acted, they may wish to speak to their Independent Reviewing Officer who chairs their reviews before they turn 18 and request a review of their Pathway Plan. The young person should be told of their right to use their local authority's complaints procedure to voice their concerns, and of their right to have an independent advocate.   

Note: Where a Staying Put arrangement is in place, the local authority, where appropriate, may consider delegating part of the personal adviser function to the foster carer (see Leaving Care and Transition Procedure, Personal Advisers).

Discussion should start with the young person and foster carer regarding the option of staying put as early as possible, ideally before the young person reaches the age of 16.

If this has not already been done, 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.

The young person's pathway plan (which may be superseded by a 'living together agreement' from age 18 - see Appendix 2: Living Together Agreement) should set out all of the practical arrangements regarding the young person remaining as a young adult in the Staying Put arrangement. It should set out the 'ground rules' of the household as well as the areas of responsibility that all parties to the arrangement are expected to fulfil. Many of these will be an extension of the expectations on them when they were a foster child. This will 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;
• 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.

It should be assessed from the outset how the arrangement will help the young person develop the skills required for independent living once they move on. They should be supported to continue to develop a range of skills including:

• Relationships - getting on with neighbours; understanding acceptable behaviour; when and how to communicate with relevant professionals;
• Emotional Resilience - managing isolation and where to go for support. Building self-esteem;
• Finance and budgeting - opening a bank account, safe borrowing and managing debt, understanding basic financial products, benefits and welfare reform; budgeting for priority bills, household appliances and everyday shopping on a budget;
• Cooking - cooking healthily and on a budget; understanding nutrition and its impact on overall health;
• Managing a home - washing and ironing, cleaning, basic DIY, operating appliances and what is allowed within a tenancy; and
• Applying for jobs - understanding strengths and areas for personal development; developing job skills, understanding job/volunteering pathways and support available; understanding bursaries and other financial support; where to go for advice; understanding the impact of work on benefits;
• The Staying Put checklist (see Appendix 1: Staying Put Checklist) outlines the responsibilities of the Young Person's Social Worker, Fostering Supervising Social Worker and Supported Lodgings Co-ordinator for ensuring appropriate arrangements are in place.

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.

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.

While Fostering Regulations will no longer legally apply to these arrangements, key standards should continue to govern the expectations of the placement when the young person reaches 18.

These should include in all cases but particularly in cases where there are no foster children living in the carer's home:

• A written set of standards and expectations that make explicit and clear what the implications of the change from being Looked After to being in a Staying Put arrangement, including what the young person and the carer can reasonably expect of each other and of the local authority;
• A system for reviewing and approving the Staying Put arrangement and carer/s to ensure that the arrangement complies with local authority expectations;
• Safeguarding and risk assessment checks on household members and in certain circumstances regular visitors;
• Health and safety requirements (as a minimum this should comply with landlord and licensee/tenant requirements);
• Regular supervision and support, possibly, from their fostering supervising social worker; and
• Opportunities to attend appropriate training.

The Local Authority will need to assess individual circumstances and consider the appropriateness of all of these checks particularly where the young person is the only person placed/living with their carer/s and it is not envisaged that further children will be placed. 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, it will be necessary to ensure that the Staying Put arrangement continues to meet appropriate standards.

Safeguarding arrangements will need to be sufficient, including disclosure and barring service checks on over 18 year olds and issues relating to fostered children in households. 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. As such, they will require a valid Disclosure and Barring Service check. To ensure that the check (and possible subsequent risk assessment) is completed by the child/young person's eighteenth birthday the process will need to commence in sufficient time.

The local authority will discuss with the former foster carer/supported lodgings provider whether they require any particular training and guidance to help support the young person. The type of support that a former foster carer/supported lodgings provider will need to provide in a 'staying put' arrangement is likely to be different to that they provided when the young person was a Child Looked After. It should be explored with the former foster carer/supported lodgings provider the type of training and support they think they will require, particularly in helping the young person develop their independent life skills. Whether the former foster carer/supported lodgings provider is from the local authority or an independent provider, careful consideration should be given to continued support which could include peer support.

Whilst the level of financial support payable will depend upon individual needs and circumstances, former carers/providers will be paid an allowance that will cover all reasonable costs of supporting the care leaver to remain living with them. Clear information will be provided to carers/providers on the financial support which may be provided for staying put arrangements, in order to help carers/providers plan well in advance whether they wish to participate in such arrangements.

When deciding upon the level of financial support payable, careful consideration will have to be given to the impact of the 'staying put' arrangement on the family's financial position. The impact will vary from family to family.

It will be necessary to consider:

• How extending placements will impact on the allowances provided by the Local Authority and whether other funding, e.g. funding for housing related support, will contribute to meeting Staying Put costs;
• Whether additional allowances provided when the child was Looked After to ensure they were embedded in the family will continue, for example holiday allowances, birthday and Christmas/festival allowances;
• Any financial contributions from the young person from their wages, salary, benefits or educational allowances. Depending on their circumstances, young people who remain in a Staying Put arrangement may be able to claim means tested benefits for their personal needs from their eighteenth birthday;
• How the income tax, national insurance and welfare benefits situation of carers may be affected by post-18 payments. Where a young person continues to reside with their former carer/provider 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;
• Insurance issues including liability and household insurance. Staying Put carers should be provided with information about liability insurance cover in situations where Staying Put young people may make an allegation against another child in placement, or against their Staying Put carer/s, or an allegation is made against the Staying Put young person. The majority of carers/providers hold public liability insurance.

The local authority will explain to the young person their full entitlements, including how they will provide the young person with their leaving care grant once they move on from a 'staying put' arrangement and live independently.

Living away from the former carer's/provider's home for temporary periods such as attending higher education courses should not preclude a 'staying put' arrangement. This might include a residential further education institution; undertaking induction training for the armed services or other training or employment programmes that require a young person to live away from home.

The Staying Put framework is aimed at former relevant children who require an extended period with their former carers/providers due to delayed maturity, vulnerability and/or in order to complete their education or training. Where young people have an on-going cognitive disability and meet the adult services Fair Access to Care Services criteria (Putting People First), foster placements should be converted to Adult Placements/Shared Lives Arrangements when the child reaches their eighteenth birthday. This is important to ensure that both the young person and the carer have a formal regulatory and safeguarding framework that addresses their respective needs.

The Staying Put arrangement extends until:

• The young person leaves the Staying Put arrangement;
  
  or

• The young person reaches their twenty-first birthday.

Local authorities may wish to continue supporting a young person beyond age 21 if it meets their individual needs, such as finishing their course of education.

The local authority will want to ensure that the end of a 'staying put' arrangement is not another 'cliff edge' for the young person but a gradual transition to independent living. Procedures should be agreed at the outset about how any wish by the carer/provider to bring the arrangement to an end should be managed. The social worker/personal adviser should discuss with the young person their transition from such an arrangement to another type of accommodation and agree the type of support the young person will require. These arrangements should be developed alongside joint protocols with the housing authority, setting out how access to social housing and care leavers 'priority need' status will be discharged.

An excluded licensee can be asked to leave the property by the Staying Put carer/provider, who must give 'reasonable notice'. In extreme circumstances it may be considered reasonable for the carer/provider to give very short notice and ask the young person to leave on the same day.

If a young person in a Staying Put arrangement dies up to and including the age of 24, notifications should be made in accordance with the procedure on Death or Serious Injury to a Child (Looked After, Child in Need or Care Leaver Up to and Including the Age of 24) Procedure.

Prior to a Staying Put arrangement, the foster carer was in receipt of an age related fostering allowance. This allowance covered the cost of caring for the child (food, clothing, transport, personal and household costs). As the young person is no longer a Child Looked After and entitled to claim benefits in their own right, the age related allowance is replaced by the young person's benefits / income. The young person is expected to pay for their own clothing, toiletries and other expenses out of their benefits / income.

Staying put carers will receive financial support from the local authority. This is called a 'Staying Put Fee'. The fee will cover all reasonable costs of supporting the care leaver to remain living with the carer, including the carer's time in supporting the young person. The staying put carer will receive a weekly fee of £205.52 from the local authority (Section 23c payment). Financial arrangements to support the staying put carer will be confirmed in writing so that all parties are clear what has been agreed. The Staying Put carer will also receive board from the young person and rent (which the young person is entitled to claim through housing benefit). Where the rate assessed is less than the expected £55 the young person is expected to make up the difference.

The young person is required to make a contribution (board payment) to the staying put carer. This should be paid directly to the staying put carers. The amount will be agreed on case-by-case basis between the young person, the carer and Social Worker before the arrangement starts and will be recorded within the Living Together Agreement. The young person's contribution will cover food and heating costs. This will not affect the fee paid to the carer from the local authority, although carers receiving benefits could see a deduction in their benefit payment. In such cases, the local authority will make a compensatory payment directly to the foster carer to compensate for a deduction in benefits where appropriate following approval by the relevant Strategic Manager.

The Staying Put Arrangement fee is set out below.

Table 1: Staying Put Fee

_{*This is subject to the ongoing review of housing benefit payments.}

When a young person chooses to move away from the carer's home to go to university or goes into the armed forces and the carer and young person wish to continue a Staying Put arrangement, the staying put carer will receive a retainer. The retainer is 50% of the local authority staying put Fee (£102.76). The staying put carer will not be in receipt of rent or board during this period. This is on the basis that the staying put carer continues to support the young person and retains their bedroom. When the young person returns to the carers home during holiday periods or periods of leave the staying put carer will receive the full local authority staying put fee of £205.52. The carer will also be eligible for board and rent. Those young people earning a salary will be responsible for paying rent and board to their carer when they are home. Those young people choosing to continue living with their carer whilst attending university will not be entitled to claim housing benefit. On these occasions the local authority will pay the rent element directly to the carer(s).

A staying put arrangement may continue for young people at University until they complete their education or sooner if wished. A staying put arrangement may continue for a young person in the armed forces until the age of 21.

The Social Worker / Personal Adviser will provide guidance and support to the young person and the carer in relation to benefits that the young person is able to claim in their own right, such as housing benefit and income support. The Personal Adviser will also identify where the carer can receive advice about benefit entitlement and tax liabilities. A Staying Put arrangement is treated the same as Shared Lives and so the carer should receive an allowance (see HMRC website, Help Sheet 236 re Qualifying Care Relief).

All regulation 24 family and friend carers will also be entitled to the equivalent local authority weekly staying put fee of £205.52. The Staying Put arrangement will be operated in line with this policy.

Appendix 1: Staying Put Checklist

Appendix 2:  Living Together Agreement