I keep hearing how we need to cut benefit costs, but unemployed people are given £72 per week, yet a couple who foster a child are paid £370 per week. I know a couple who foster two children at £740 per week or £38,480 per year plus other addons such as Christmas, birthday and holiday money on top of their earnings.

I do not know of any hard-working people who earn this sort of money to pay for their two children and if they earn £600 per week between them have to pay for four people to live.

Private companies are set up to save money for government and councils. yet how can they as they are in business to make a profit.

How much money does a private company make to foster a child and surely the local council should be able to do it cheaper and save the hard-working, tax-paying family some money.

Could this be a case of MPs having no brains or just interested in making money for themselves and forget the tax payer. It is time we thought more rather than doing what is easier for the Government.

If we consider the situation of paying £250 per week per foster child this would save £6,240 per child per year, based on paying for 15,000 foster children we could save £93,600,000 per year that could be spent on the health service.

Perhaps an in-depth investigation should be made on the wastage of money.

Kevin Drinkwater Redditch