City foster families furious after council cash blunder

FURIOUS foster carers have hit out at council chiefs after an admin blunder left them without vital payments over the Easter holidays.

Money that usually goes into bank accounts on a Tuesday didn’t appear this week with many left struggling to fund activities they had planned and booked over the school break.

The Glasgow Times understands that more than 300 carers were impacted, and many told us they had to contact their assigned social workers for an explanation as to what had gone wrong.

Payment depends on the age of the child and can range from £ 140 to £ 220.

Jane Wright, who has been fostering for 17 years, says the error wreaked havoc on many families’ budgets and plans.

She said: “It has been chaotic, we never received any notification that the money was going to be delayed.

“All foster carers are usually sent an email outlining what they are entitled to be paid fortnightly, but it never arrived this week and then no funds were deposited in our bank accounts. The payments always land on a Tuesday, so people rely on it and plan around that.

“It has left a lot of folk struggling to cover bills, buy food and fund any plans they might have had with their foster child over the school holidays. It’s just not good enough. At the very least if it was going to be late then people should have been told in advance so they could plan accordingly.

“People are angry about this, and rightly so. Can you imagine the uproar if staff at Glasgow City Council were not paid on time, yet carers are just expected to accept it.”

Jane, 52, from Shawlands, said social workers only became aware of the problem after being swamped by calls from angry carers.

She added: “They had no idea that we were waiting to be paid. It is just another example of the service we provide being taken for granted.”

An email sent to foster families - and shared with the Glasgow Times - states: “I am sorry to let you know that finance colleagues have informed us that the payment scheduled to be in carers’ bank accounts may not be received until April 5. This appears to have been an impact of the holiday weekend.

“Finance colleagues have received a number of calls from carers and have only just identified the issue. They have asked us to pass on their apologies for any difficulties this has caused. Please let your supervising social worker know in the first instance if this creates difficulties for you.”

Another source, who is a foster carer to twins along with her other three children, says she has been left struggling to put food on the table.

She added: “When I realised the payment hadn’t been made and questioned what had gone wrong, I was told that we are not actually due payment until Thursday. However, the fact remains that I’ve been paid fortnightly on a Tuesday for the past 12 years.

“After contacting my support supervisor, I was told she would try and get a BACS payment put through, but within 10 minutes I was told this wouldn’t be possible and that it would take three days to process my money.

“As everyone knows, keeping children entertained over the Easter school holidays isn’t cheap. It’s expensive enough just to provide decent meals for the kids.”

The mum says she feels people providing foster care are being taken for granted.

She added: “As far as I’m concerned, we are at the bottom of the pecking order, it’s simply not good enough.

“The council are technically the legal guardian of a lot of these children, so they have the responsibility that comes with that.”

A council spokesperson said: “Foster carers were due a payment on Thursday, April 4, however, due to a processing error these payments won’t be received until Friday, April 5.

“We apologise profusely for this 24 hour delay and are reviewing arrangements to ensure it does not happen again.”