I am advising regarding a 16 year old lone parent - she has a young baby and they are both looked after by the local authority - they are with foster parents with fostering payments being made in respect of both.

It looks to me as if the mother can claim child benefit and income support but cannot claim child tax credit. However, I do not feel very confident about it. Is anyone able to confirm my view - or take a different view?

Tony

No to everything I'm afraid. If the baby is being "looked after" by the LA the 16 year old mother is not responsible for him/her. Hence she cannot claim CTC or CB, is consequently not a lone parent and therefore cannot claim IS.

Thanks for the reply, Brian. Can you tell me where it says this? It may well be very obvious but I couldn't find it - presumably just looking in the wrong places!

Tony

Disagree with Brian here. I think the original proposition - IS and CHB but not CTC - was correct. See this thread:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=107&topic_id=1610&mesg_id=1610&listing_type=search

for details of the argument.

Richard Atkinson

Thanks Richard

That thread supports what I thought - It just feels a bit counter-intuitive when local authority supporting claimant but rules seem to be unco-ordinated and presumably this situation not really been considered properly from a policy point of view.

Mmmm......

IS Regs sch 1b include as a prescribed person a lone parent who is responsible for a child who is a member of their household.
Reg 15 defines responsibility for a child as being in receipt of CB.
Reg 16 says a person is not responsible for a child if they are placed with the claimant or his partner by a local authority under section 23(2)(a) of the Children Act 1989.

Hence I do not think the 16yo can get IS for her baby

Last bit should read "can't get IS as a lone parent"

Hello Brian

I had assumed that, for the purposes of the Children Act, they were both placed with the foster parent, rather than the baby being placed with her - in which case she wouldn't be caught by Reg 16. I have tried to check with the social worker but she is not in today. I assume placing is a formal process rather than simply being put together with the mother, but I will check.....

Thanks again for your interest.

Tony

If the child were simply left with the mother in the mother's foster placement - which can happen for instance if there are no concerns about the child - there would be no fostering allowance in respect of the child paid to the mother's foster carers. The mother could then claim CTC as well as IS.

Since there is a fostering allowance in payment there must be a placement of the child with the mother's foster parents. The mother is not caught by Reg.16(4) IS regs which only excludes foster parents, nor by 16(5)(c) which only applies when the child is not living with the IS claimant. So she can claim IS.

Yes it's confusing. Authorities will vary in their practice but certainly here CYPD are too vague about what sort of placement has taken place and short of paper work. A foster child can subsequently be placed for adoption with the foster parents for instance, which radically alters the benefit and tax credit position if it is formalised - but it is unclear when one 'placement' replaces another.

Richard Atkinson

Richard

As I see it.

I am situated in a CYP office, although not formally part of the set up, and I can testify that the arrangements are no clearer here. The social workers are often unclear as to the arrangements and certainly do not know what provisions payments are made under. Usually it seems reasonably obvious to me but sometimes things do get a little vague!

Thanks for your help.

Tony