A PROMINENT family lawyer has urged Bradford Council to “fess up” to the carers it has underpaid for years, to avoid mass litigation.

Huddersfield-based solicitor Nigel Priestley said the authority had underpaid maintenance allowances to some carers of vulnerable children over the past seven to nine years and they could be due a refund of as much as £10,000 per child.

He said: “Two Bradford carers have already contacted me - more will follow.”

He said there could well be more than 100 carers affected in total, meaning the authority could face a seven-figure bill.

Mr Priestley urged the Council to apologise to all those affected by the shortfalls and reimburse them before the matter ended up in at judicial review, costing the authority even more.

He said: “This is not a game of poker, where each side are carefully looking at their cards and not letting on what they have. The duty is for Bradford Council to ‘fess up’.”

Earlier this year, the Council revealed that it had been paying certain carers - often relatives such as grandparents who have arrangements called special guardianship orders - less in child maintenance allowances than foster carers.

Officers said in the light of legal cases elsewhere in the UK, payments had to be equalised or the authority would run the risk of facing a judicial review.

And controversially, the Council’s Executive decided to cut the allowances for foster carers rather than raising the lower of the fees, saving £454,000 a year.

The move sparked an angry outcry from foster carers as well as a review by a scrutiny committee.

But Mr Priestley said the matter should have been rectified back when the landmark cases were dealt with in 2008 and 2010, saying Bradford carers who had been short-changed in the meantime could take legal action.

He was also scathing of the decision to cut the higher of the allowances, rather than raising the lower rates, saying this was likely to prove a false economy and drive foster carers away.

In response, Jim Hopkinson, Bradford Council’s deputy director for children’s social care, said: “We are adjusting our allowances to make them the same for all foster carers. This is something we acknowledge needs to be done and not something we have disputed.

“We are in regular contact with all our foster carers about these changes and they have all been invited to consultation meetings and had the opportunity to take part in an online consultation.”

Mr Hopkinson said even after the changes, Bradford’s fees and allowances would remain competitive.

Bradford Council’s Executive will today reconsider its decision to cut fostering allowances after a scrutiny committee referred the matter back to it.

The recommendation from officers is that the Executive presses ahead with its original plans to cut fostering fees.

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