Angry foster carers were meeting tonight to consider taking action after being given no pay rise this year.

About 200 foster carers who look after youngsters for Bradford Council have been affected.

The pay and allowances made to carers were frozen in April leaving them worse off in real terms.

Today, Jean Brook, a carer of 21 years' experience, from Bradford, said: "Carers are up in arms.

"We didn't get a rise in our pay or the boarding out allowance for children," she said.

"Obviously, this means we're worse off. We normally receive a cost of living rise - public sector workers have just got three per cent.

"What has annoyed us is that the council hasn't even had the decency to inform us that we were not getting a raise. We feel this rubs our faces in it."

Bradford Council relies on its army of foster carers to take in some of the district's most vulnerable youngsters - children who are forced to leave home through family breakdowns or are removed for their own safety.

Last year, the council ran a high-profile advertising and media campaign aimed at encouraging more families, couples and single carers to register as foster parents.

"When we got our April 18 pay packets I thought it must be an oversight," Mrs Brook said.

"Then other carers started ringing me up and I realised what had happened."

The meeting has been called by the Bradford Association for Fostering and Adoption (BAFA) and takes place at the T F Davies Centre, Clifton Villas, Manningham, tonight at 7.30pm for 8pm.

Social Services Director Liam Hughes said: "We appreciate the valuable work being done by our foster parents and sympathise with their concerns. Unfortunately, our child care budget, which is substantial, has reached its limit.

"One major strain on the Social Services budget is the cost of placing a significant number of our young people outside the district because no suitable placements are available locally.

"We hope that this can be contained, and in due course we will review the question of fees again."

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