OUTRAGE has followed an Ealing Council suggestion that families could foster a child to avoid 'bedroom tax'.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was informed about a council letter promoting the idea on his weekly Call Clegg phone-in on LBC radio.

Mr Clegg said: "It is not right for Ealing to take an exemption that we announced a couple of weeks ago to say foster families will not be covered by this and then to use this to go round locally saying 'why don't you turn yourselves into a foster family?'.

"I am not happy at all with councils encouraging people to change the way they are as families just to avoid that £14 a week."

The leaflet says that, from April 1, families who rent a council or housing association home and have one or more spare bedrooms, could have their housing benefit reduced.

Cllr Nigel Bakhai (Lib-Dem) said: “I think it’s uncaring and insensitive for the council to imply foster parents are only taking in a child for financial motivations.

“The focus should be on the children in need who need a stable and loving home and not on any sort of monetary gain.”

The 'bedroom tax' restricts the amount of benefit people can claim. Those with a ‘spare’ bedroom will have their housing benefit cut by 14%, while those with two or more ‘spare’ bedrooms will face a 24% cut.

A spokesman for Fostering Horizon said: “There is a national shortage of foster carers. We need almost 10,000 families to foster children.

“But saving on tax is a completely different thing from fostering. We will not accept anyone coming in with that sort of motivation."

While those with one foster child are exempt from the 14% tax, it is still hitting families who foster more than one child.

Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, said: “We are very concerned this will deter people from offering to care for more than one child. Foster care is all about providing stability and security for children, yet this policy risks more children being split up from their brothers and sisters.”

Councillor Gary Malcolm, Lib-Dem group leader, said: "It is totally wrong for the council to belittle the vitally important role of being a foster parent as just a way to get a little more money.

"So far, Ealing has been very silent on this. They need to take their heads from out of the sand and apologise for their insensitivity."

Fellow Lib-Dem councillor Andrew Steed added: “I cannot imagine what the thinking was behind it. The responsible director had not seen it before it went out.”

Ealing Council has since defended its decision to send out the leaflet, releasing a statement saying:

“We want as many people as possible to consider fostering and recognise welfare benefit changes may have appeared to be a barrier to some families who could become potential foster parents.

"Until recently, foster families were not exempt from the changes regarding spare bedrooms, so we produced a leaflet to explain the position.”

There is currently a record high of 61,700 children living with foster families nationally. The number of children in care has risen for the sixth year in a row and at least 9,000 new foster families are needed across the UK.