Parents ‘broken’ by withdrawal of adoption payments say funding is a ‘postcode lottery’
Michelle Haigh can still remember the first time she saw a picture of her adopted son, Thomas.
Unable to have children, she and her husband Gary had decided they’d like to begin a family of their own, contacting a regional adoption agency nearby, One Adoption South Yorkshire.
She said: “We got profiles sent to us, where you read the background story, and then Thomas’s profile came through our letterbox.
Gary Haigh with two of the three brothers they have adopted
“I knew he was my boy, as soon as I saw him and I instantly said I wanted to proceed.”
Nine years on, the couple have not only taken in Thomas, who is now 10, but also his siblings, Lucas, 8, and Freddie, 5.
However, Michelle says their family unit has been “broken,” by a decision to withdraw their financial support, known as the adoption allowance.
The Haighs claim that, despite encouraging them to keep the boys together and promising to support each boy until they turned eighteen, they received little notice from their local authority before the money was stopped.
Sarah Johal, the National Strategic Adoption Lead for England, said their story is one of a growing number of similar cases, with local authorities, who all set their own adoption allowance policies, trying to save money in a difficult financial climate.
Ms Johal wants ministers to standardise the financial support given to adoptive parents, adding that the current guidance needs to be changed.
Gary Haigh and his adopted sons playing football
She said: “I think essentially, it is left to each local authority to use their discretion as to how they apply the regulations and guidance.
“It’s quite outdated and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality of the children and families we currently support.”
As it stands, adoption allowance is a blend of legislation and statutory guidance, set by each local authority at their discretion.
It is designed to encourage people to take in children who might otherwise not be adopted due to the extra costs of looking after them and is usually paid weekly or monthly.
The amount paid is often calculated based on the adoptive parents’ incomes.
Michelle says officials gave them little notice before the money was stopped
Ms Johal is also calling on the government to create a uniform means testing tool, completely waiving the financial assessment in certain cases involving children that wait longer for adoption such as sibling groups, children with complex additional needs and those from ethnic minority groups.
“It feels that if we can get more guidance around how local authorities use that discretion and in what circumstances and get more agreement around that across the country, it would be really helpful.”
The postcode lottery she described is being felt by the Haighs.
Their funding, which was originally around £631 a fortnight has been partially restored, but they are still feeling the financial strain.
The family’s adoption funding has been withdrawn
The pair, who live in West Yorkshire, have been forced to take out loans, cut back on essentials and put their home on the market, changes that have affected them and the children.
Gary Haigh said: “We try and keep them out of it, so they’re not aware of it, but they see arguments all the time from us about money.
“They’re asking: ‘Why can’t we go on holiday when our friends go on holiday, why can’t we go to the park, why haven’t we got this or that?'”
His wife said: “I’m constantly feeling like I’m letting them down because I’m worried about money.
“Every time we get a payment, we’re now feeling insecure at the fact that the next payment might not arrive in the next fortnight. I’m so stressed out that I’m not being the best mum I can be for my boys.
The pressure has left them seeking mental health support for Thomas who worries the house being for sale means he will be sent to another family.
His brother Lucas has cerebral palsy, meaning he already needs additional support.
A recent survey by the charity Adoption UK found adoptive parents are struggling with the cost of living crisis and most have not received more support.
It revealed 26% of adoptive parents said they were in receipt of adoption allowances or other financial support from their agency.
Of these, only 6% said there had been an increase in the amount paid during 2022.
Alison Woodhead, Adoption UK’s Director of Public Affairs and Communications, also called for more consistent guidance on the financial support available.
She said: “For one-off payments and ongoing allowances, we need clear national standards defining under which circumstances these will be awarded, and how much is appropriate in various cases.
“The current situation is vague, subject to too much interpretation and is not centred around the needs of the child.”
Doncaster Council said: “The current guidance was reviewed in early 2022. It outlines that an allowance can be paid to the adoptive parent(s) for sibling groups for every subsequent sibling placed with the family.
“Every adoptive family can request a Statutory Assessment Support Need from their local Regional Adoption Agency… this looks at a range of needs from mental health, and the need for therapeutic services, to additional support during the child’s education.”
UK
How Britain’s most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective’s talk
Britain’s most notorious gangster and the detective who pursued him have been involved in a bizarre confrontation…at a charity lunch.
Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown was at a Kent golf club and about to give a talk on the infamous £26m Brink’s-Mat gold robbery when he was summoned from the stage by officials.
Mr Brown, who appeared on the award-winning Sky News StoryCast podcast The Hunt For The Brink’s-Mat Gold in 2019, said: “I go outside and they say ‘he’s here’ and I say ‘who’s here’ and they say that table over there in the corner, that’s Kenny Noye with a baseball cap pulled down over his head.”
Noye stabbed to death an undercover policeman during the Brink’s-Mat investigation, but was acquitted of murder, though he was jailed for handling the stolen gold.
After his release, he used a knife again in the M25 road-rage murder of motorist Stephen Cameron.
“They said what are we going to do?” said Mr Brown.
“I said are you serving food? Well, just use plastic knives.”
Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown. Pic: Robert Mulhern
Although Mr Brown had not personally arrested Noye over Brink’s-Mat he had identified him as a suspect months after the robbery.
Years later he met him during an ill-fated TV interview in which he quizzed him about his role in the robbery.
He said: “He told me everything I wanted to know except the truth. He still insists he had nothing to do with it.”
The interview was never broadcast after the prison authorities threatened to send Noye back to jail for a breach of his parole.
Read more:
What happened to the Brink’s-Mat gold?
Kenneth Noye, left, and Stephen Cameron
Mr Brown, 86, said: “I went over to him and said ‘thanks for coming, nice of you to pop in’, but I don’t believe you’ve turned up with your sons and grandkids to listen to me telling how you killed a police officer.
“And he said ‘I want to make sure you don’t say I’ve been dealing drugs’ and I said ‘I’ve never said that Kenny’.”
The retired detective told Noye he wasn’t going to change his presentation just because he was there.
“He said ‘mate, I wouldn’t expect you to and I’ll come up [on stage] if you want me to’.
“Can you think how he’s turned up with his family to listen to somebody talking about you killing the police? Now, you put logic on that.”
The bizarre story emerged when I rang Mr Brown after I’d been told about the meeting.
A Sky News podcast told the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist in 2019
I also wanted to ask him about the recent BBC hit drama series The Gold which retold the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist at Heathrow Airport in 1983.
“It was an absolute shambles, far too much dramatic licence and the real story was so much better,” said the ex-detective, whose job had been to follow the trail of the 6,800 gold bars to the US and the Caribbean.
He said he chatted to one of the show’s writers for a long time in a phone call but then heard no more.
“They invented people, changed a bit here and there and made it politically correct in so many ways. I’m just very sad that that is what people will believe.
“And I couldn’t work out who my character was supposed to be. I could have been one of the female cops.”
He also criticised the portrayal of Noye, now 78, as a likeable jack-the-lad character when the truth about the double killer with a volatile temper was quite different.
Oasis have reunited on stage for the first time in almost 16 years – with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sharing a high five and the briefest of hugs as they closed a performance that for fans was more than worth the wait.
After the split in 2009, for many years Noel said he would never go back – and for a long time, as the brothers exchanged insults through separate interviews (and on social media, for Liam), it seemed pretty unlikely to ever happen.
But now, here they are. As they walked out on stage at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, all eyes were on the Gallaghers for a sense of their relationship – dare we say it, friendship? – now after all these years.
There was no reference to their fall-out or making up, but the gestures were there – lifting hands together as they walked out for the first time.
The headline “OASIS REUNITED” was shown on stage at the gig. Pic: PA
Fans at the Oasis gig. Pic: PA
Headlines and tweets of speculation and then confirmation of the reunion filled the screens as the show started. “This is happening,” said one, repeatedly.
In the end, it was all about the music.
Liam has received criticism in the past for his voice not being what it once was during his solo or Beady Eye performances, but back on stage with his brother tonight he delivered exactly what fans would have hoped for – a raw, steely-eyed performance, snarling vocals, and the swagger that makes him arguably the greatest frontman of his day.
This was Oasis sounding almost as good as they ever have.
Fans sang along and held up their phones to film as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
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Oasis: ‘It’s good to be back’
They opened with Hello, because of course, “it’s good to be back”. And then Acquiesce, and those lyrics: “Because we need each other/ We believe in one another.”
The song is said to be about friendship in the wider sense, rather than their brotherly bond and sibling rivalry, but you can’t help but feel like it means something here.
Over two hours, they played favourite after favourite – including Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Supersonic and Roll With It.
Liam Gallagher as Oasis takes to the stage in Cardiff. Pic: PA
In the mid-section, Liam takes his break for Noel to sing Talk Tonight, Half The World Away and Little By Little; the tempo slows but there is by no means a lull, with the fans singing all his words back to him.
Liam returns for hits including Stand By Me, Slide Away, Whatever and Live Forever, before sending the crowd wild (or even wilder) with Rock And Roll Star.
Noel Gallagher performing on stage. Pic: PA
An Oasis fan is pointing at the stage during the gig. Pic: PA
When the reunion announcement was made last summer, it quickly became overshadowed by the controversy of dynamic pricing causing prices to rocket. As he has done on X before, Liam addressed the issue on stage with a joke.
“Was it worth the £4,000 you paid for the ticket?” he shouted at one point. “Yeah,” the crowd shouts back; seemingly all is forgiven.
After Rock And Roll Star, the dream that very quickly became a reality for this band, Noel introduced the rest of the group, calling Bonehead a “legend”.
Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs of Oasis. Pic: PA
Liam Gallagher carried a tambourine in his mouth during the concert. Pic: PA
Then he acknowledges all their young fans, some who maybe weren’t even born when they split. “This one is for all the people in their 20s who’ve never seen us before, who’ve kept this shit going,” he says before the encore starts with The Masterplan.
Noel follows with Don’t Look Back In Anger, and the screens fill with Manchester bees in reference to the arena bombing and how the song became the sound of hope and defiance for the city afterwards.
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‘I’d have paid £10,000 to see them’
Two fans sat on their friends’ shoulders as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
During Wonderwall, there’s a nice touch as Liam sings to the crowd: “There are many things I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh.”
It is at the end of Champagne Supernova, which closes the set, that it happens; Noel puts down his guitar, and they come together for a high-five and a back-slap, a blink-and-you’d miss it hug.
Read more:
What you need to know about the Oasis tour
Liam Gallagher hits out at council after fans branded ‘rowdy’
“Right then, beautiful people, this is it,” Liam had told the crowd as he introduced the song just a few minutes earlier. “Nice one for putting up with us over the years.”
From the roar of the audience, it’s safe to say most people here would agree it’s been worth it.
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