Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 10:43am

MSP takes kinship carers fight to Scottish Parliament

by Jamie MacDonald

Comments (1) | Print | Email

Christopher Harvie MSP

A MOTION has been submitted at the Scottish Parliament which criticises Clackmannanshire Council's decision to reduce kinship care allowances by 67 per cent.

SNP MSP for mid-Scotland and Fife, Christopher Harvie, tabled the motion on Thursday stating the decision to cut the allowance was a short-sighted attempt to reduce budget overspends and urging the council to reverse its decision immediately.

In January, councillors took the decision to slash the weekly allowance paid to kinship carers - people who look after the children of another family member. The move was criticised by those affected who said they were being "emotionally blackmailed" because of their feelings towards the children.

Kinship carers were also unhappy with a lack of prior warning that their allowance was being reviewed. The failure to send out letters ahead of the council vote was blamed by Grahame Blair, the council's director of services to people, on "human error".

Before the decision was taken kinship carers had been awarded the same level of allowance as foster carers - ranging from £124 to £215 per child. In comparison foster care agencies receive an average of £600 per week for each child they place.

Mr Harvie told the Advertiser, "I am using the motion to support the cause of kinship carers. They provide a moderate and humane alternative to agency care.

"Clackmannanshire's kinship carers seem to have suffered from a rushed decision that did not keep them informed."

The MSP added that he was responsible for looking after his elderly parents.

He went on, "I know what it is like to be in the situation, although, I have a job and salary coming in. For a lot of folk whose families are having problems there is not a lot of money there and to have that cut further will create problems."

Mr Harvie hopes that the bill will draw attention to the issue and could lead to Parliamentary Questions being put to the minister for Children and Early Years, Adam Ingram. The motion has already received backing from MSPs Brian Adam (SNP) and Trish Godman (Labour).

As a Government minister himself Ochil MSP, Keith Brown, is unable to put forward this sort of motion to the Parliament.

In response to the motion, council leader Janet Cadenhead said, "We are not out of line with other Scottish councils and what we are paying is far more than the funding we are getting from the Scottish Government. We regret having to make the cuts but in the social services budget there are more and more demands and the money is just not there. We will not be reversing the decision."

A petition urging the local authority to reinstate the full benefit was started two weeks ago by kinship carers. The petition is available to sign in Baxters Cafe on Mill Street, Alloa, and in the Advertiser office on Drysdale Street.

The petition is also available to sign at the website http://www.cvsclacks.org.uk/petition