Grandparents that have been bringing up their grandchildren are in line for payouts of millions in extra support. This breakthrough is the result of a pensioner who won the right to be treated as her grandson’s foster mother.
The 68-year-old woman from Derbyshire, who has been looking after the 13-year-old since he was a baby and earlier cared for another grandchild, launched a High Court after learning that she would be receiving almost twice as much financial support if she was a stranger.
The council has agreed to drop its opposition and settle the case. It will pay her the money she should have been receiving backdated for the last 13 years.
It follows a High Court ruling in March in favour of a woman from Tower Hamlets in London, who was described by judges as “one of the unsung heroines of our society” for bringing her disabled brother’s three children up.
The cases could have implications for many of the estimated 200,000 people across the country acting as “kinship carers”. This means they have taken on parental responsibility for children within their own family as an alternative to adoption.
In the most recent case the woman, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, had been receiving a basic “residence” allowance. This was just over £70 a week to help cover the cost of bringing the boy up.
Had she been classed as a foster parent she would be receiving £160 a week, more than twice as much.
After a judge agreed that there was a case to answer, Derbyshire County Council backed down and dropped its case before it was due to come before a full hearing.
She is in line for around £14,000 in back payments in addition to the money she will now receive, as well as her legal costs.
According to her solicitor Nigel Priestley, there could be another 200 families in the county alone in the same position.
“My client is not alone,” he said.
“Across the country local authorities are paying limited residence allowances.”
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