BRADFORD Council is facing a formal complaint after ploughing ahead with cuts to allowances for foster carers.

The latest development was revealed by foster carers at a heated meeting of the Executive today.

The cuts to allowances - which could see carers losing as much as £30 per week per child - had been approved last month but had then been referred back to the Executive by a scrutiny committee.

Council chiefs have argued that they need to equalise the allowances made to different types of carers, but foster carers have said the cuts will directly hit the vulnerable children they look after.

One foster carer, Jane Collins, said by drawing attention to the different rates being paid to different carers, the authority had left itself open to costly legal challenges.

She accused the authority of making misleading and inaccurate claims of “Trump-esque” proportions throughout the process.

She said foster carers had a formal letter of complaint to hand to chief executive Kersten England, but her speech was cut off by the city solicitor Parveen Akhtar, who said she was making "very serious allegations" and this was not the forum for them.

Deputy council leader, Councillor Val Slater, denied the Council was misleading anyone, adding: "You all sat through the very difficult budget discussions we have had and you know what an extreme situation we are in.

"Time and time again we are having to make decisions we don't want to make."

Deputy chairman of the children's scrutiny committee, Councillor Mike Pollard (Con, Baildon), said he had "some concern" that the committee's points had not been addressed.

These were about how Bradford foster carers’ payments and allowances compared with those in neighbouring authorities.

But Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of the Council, said from what she had heard in the meeting, direct comparisons were difficult to make.

The Executive again approved the cuts to allowances.

After the meeting, Councillor Jackie Whiteley (Con, Wharfedale), who had called in the original decision for scrutiny, said today’s result was “just really upsetting”, while Ms Collins said they were prepared to take the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman.