Liberal Democrats call on Government to review legal fees for Council's Children's Services (York Liberal Democrats)

York Liberal Democrats <info@yorklibdems.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats call on Government to review legal fees for Council's Children's Services

November 17, 2008 12:00 AM

Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Children and Young People's Services, Cllr Carol Runciman,

is calling on the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families to reverse recent changes to legal fees, which have hugely increased the cost for the Council of putting children into care.

She is writing to the Secretary of State, Ed Balls, asking that the Government puts legal charges for children going into the Council's care back to where they were, or to go even further and fully fund the Council's Children's Services work in this area.

A new fee system was implemented in May this year, as part of the Government's drive to make Courts self-funding through fees. This means that legal fees charged to local authorities have increased substantially.

City of York Council used to pay £150 to issue a child's care application. From May, however, a new system has been implemented which effectively works on a 'pay as you go' procedure. The fees are now as follows;

Ø £2,225 upon issuing an application for children to be taken into care

Ø £700 for a hearing to resolve issues before the final court case

Ø £1, 900 for the final hearing

This results in a total increase per case from £150 to £4,825 - an equivalent of 2,500%.

The government has reallocated to Councils some of the money with which it used to support the Courts. However, this is not nearly enough and does not take account of fluctuating case loads at different times of year and in different circumstances.

Cllr Carol Runciman said, "There will be no change in policy with regards to children's care services in York, following the increase in related legal fees. If City of York Council believes a child needs safeguarding, it will take all necessary steps to do this."

"However, this means a greater call on the Council's resources and some of these costs should be born by the government. I shall be telling the Secretary of State that I hope there will never be a case of a child being put at risk in any authority in the country because of these enormous increases in legal fees."