{"id":40497,"date":"2019-03-07T14:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T14:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=40497"},"modified":"2019-03-07T14:57:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T14:57:52","slug":"cardiffs-support-young-care-leavers-followed-across-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/politics-social-justice\/cardiffs-support-young-care-leavers-followed-across-wales","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff’s support for young care leavers to be followed across Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young care leavers under 25 are going to be exempted from council tax across Wales. How can those eligible young people in Cardiff benefit?<\/h2>\n

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\u201cCouncil tax was the second highest bill after rent and I was really panicky about making sure it was paid on time. My budget strategy was \u2018don’t buy anything\u2019, I didn’t go to the cinema, I didn’t go out with friends,\u201d said Alex Sommerville<\/a><\/a>, who was 17 when she moved into her first flat after leaving care.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the Welsh government has announced new legislation to exempt care leavers under 25 from paying council tax, which will come into force from 1st April 2019. As a result, all eligible young people in Wales will soon no longer have to worry about council tax.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, the Welsh Government has been calling on local councils to consider using their existing discretionary powers to grant a full dispensation from council tax for eligible care leavers. So far, only about a third of Wales\u2019 22 local councils have responded.<\/p>\n

Cardiff is one of the earliest local authorities which have introduced that scheme. \u201cLooking after care leavers is one of the most important things that Cardiff council does in a corporate plan, and we want to give them every opportunity to live independently, so if we can help them with any financial issues such as removing a pressure like council tax, we’re happy to do it,\u201d said Councillor Ashley Lister in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

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The achievement of Cardiff, as well as some other places where the exemption has been in effect, may help the Welsh Government determine whether to promote the same legislation across Wales. \u201cWe had said this was a good thing and we’d like to see it across the whole country. I think that did help the world government come to that decision,\u201d said Councillor Chris Weaver, Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation & Performance in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, exempting care leavers from paying council tax seems to have been widely accepted by the public. The feedback to the consultation on this new legislation of the Welsh Government has been very positive, with 91% of respondents supporting this financial help to care leavers. \u201cI think they deserve this\u00a0because they have already suffered more than others,\u201d said Elijah Van Rijswijk, a taxpayer who works as a supervisor in a vintage shop.<\/p>\n

According to the Welsh Government, this new legislation throughout Wales is aiming at making council tax fairer for vulnerable households in Wales. In general, equality will be improved in two ways.<\/p>\n

Firstly, eligible young people can get the same level of support, regardless of where they\u2019re from. \u201cIt\u2019s fairer when there\u2019s a consistent approach across Wales. It doesn’t seem right to have some kind of postcode lottery, depending on where you live,\u201d said Charlotte Butler, project support of Voices from Care Cymru.<\/p>\n

The new legislation enables all young care leavers in Wales to choose where they want to live. In the past, if young care leavers in Cardiff wanted to move to another place, they may have lost their exemption. Now they won\u2019t. \u201cIt makes it easier for people who want to move either to or from Cardiff. Now anywhere in Wales, they will know that they don’t have to pay, which I hope reassures them,\u201d said Councillor Weaver.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the age limit of the exemption will be fully extended to the age of 25 instead of 21 across Wales. This helps young people that have been in care be less behind those who haven\u2019t been in care regarding financial arrangements, since the former need to make money all by themselves while the latter may ask parents for money.<\/p>\n

It is worth mentioning that Cardiff Council was the first local authority in Wales to introduce the exemption for young care leavers up to 25. \u201cWe were aware that some other councils have chosen the age of 21, but we felt 3 years probably wasn’t long enough to make sure their transition into adulthood and independent living are easier,\u201d said Councillor Lister.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Tim Crahart, the business manager of Voices from Care Cymru, argued that the age limit may still need a further extension. He said: \u201cnon-care experienced children are likely to stay at home till on average 28 years old, which is a lot longer than care experienced young people. I would be keen to make sure the exemption extends to whatever the national average age of leaving home is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although council tax is probably one of the big examples of financial difficulty, and Cardiff Council seems to take the lead in granting dispensation from council tax for care leavers, there is more that can be done. For instance, many care leavers living on their own are quite isolated because they don’t have the same family networks as other young people. Under that circumstance, they are at a potentially higher risk of experiencing mental illness.<\/p>\n

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