Foster carers are facing an allowance reduction of up to 23 per cent if Bromley council pass proposed cuts, meaning they could be forced to stop their work.

Carers currently receive an allowance for each child, based on the age of the child, to cover the costs of looking after the young person.

If foster parents cannot afford to continue working for Bromley council the children in their care will have to be moved, even if they have been placed there for years.

Councillor Angela Wilkins, leader of Bromley Labour, said: “If it were to go ahead it would be short-sighted.

“90 per cent of foster carers said they are likely to transfer to the UK agency, so Bromley would lose a lot of its foster carers.

“I think it is a kick in the teeth to people who have spent their lives looking after children.

“It would be more disruption, it would be saying that we don’t care about the foster carers and we don’t care about you.”

Bromley Foster Carers Association sent letters to Bromley Council to express their concern over the proposed cuts.

One foster carer said: “I could not have it on my conscious that the child would have to go into respite whilst we have a family holiday, but I fear this would be the case as we would not be able to afford to take them, also birthdays and Christmas will also weigh heavy in our hearts!”

“If these proposals go ahead, going by the figures you’re quoting, then we will be down a further £880 a month.”

They expressed concerns over money spent on house modifications to make room for more children and having to give up other paid work in order to devote more time to fostering.

Another carer wrote: “Please do not be any illusion that because I actually enjoy this work and do consider it to be, in some respects, a 'vocation', that I am prepared to do it without proper reimbursement, it is quite simply not affordable for us.”

The cuts to foster carers allowances come after the agreed budget cut £11.2 million from care services overall.

Bromley Council under spent on its care services budget in 2015/16 by £3.6 million.

A petition against the proposal has collected more than 300 signatures.

A Bromley council spokeswoman said: “We are currently consulting with our foster carers about the options in terms of remuneration.  At present no decision has been made.”

Will you be affected if the cuts go ahead? Get in touch on jessica.clark@london.newsquest.co.uk or 01689 885725.