Gift Vouchers for Care Leavers

A review of petty cash usage in Children's Services was undertaken at the end of 2018, with the objective of reducing the amount of physical cash held on-site in Cheshire Lines. As well as the obvious safety concerns around staff members transporting large quantities of cash from bank branch to office, the review and recommendations also seek to control excessive petty cash spend, which has escalated since the co-location of the locality teams into Cheshire Lines building.

The recommendations outlined will allow officers to more easily monitor spend on petty cash, in terms of who is requesting it, and what it is being spent on. In order to reduce the amount of petty cash being used for birthday and Christmas gifts for care leavers, it is proposed that multi-shop gift vouchers are purchased and used instead of cash.

Bank transfers of money as a gift is seen as impersonal, and many care leavers have expressed an interest in receiving vouchers. Vouchers would be purchased from a multi-store provider with discount hopefully available on bulk purchases.

The current Care Leaver cohort stands at around 272 individuals, all of whom are eligible for a birthday and Christmas gift. However, due to the nature of the service, this number is liable to change frequently.

From September 2016, the average number of Care Leavers that have been eligible for birthday and Christmas gifts has stood at 230 per month. The number has been as low as 196, and as high as the current figure of 272.

Therefore, a specific fixed contract value cannot be specified. The indicative amount currently stands at around £20,000 per annum.