BLAENAU Gwent could become the latest local authority in Wales to exempt young people leaving care from paying council tax.

Torfaen council became the first in Wales to approve an exemption and have since been followed by several others including Monmouthshire County Council and Caerphilly council.

Under the plans care leavers aged 18 to 25-years-old who live in the county borough will be able to apply for discretionary relief.

The scheme offers a full exemption, with the council back-dating any future awards to April 1, 2018.

Currently, there are an estimated 20 care leavers in Blaenau Gwent who could be entitled to apply for the scheme.

Twelve of these are already receiving an exemption under the means tested council tax reduction scheme though.

According to a council report, the cost of providing the scheme to the remaining eight care leavers is around £5,500 for 2018/19.

The report adds: "Whilst we are able to easily identify care leavers for whom Blaenau Gwent has corporate parenting responsibilities, it isn’t possible to determine the number of care leavers in our area from other Authorities.

"This has potential to increase the cost of awarding relief above £5,500.

"However, based on the analysis of above it is believed that any increase will be of small value."

A Children's Commissioner of Wales report, Hidden Ambitions, has recommended that support should be offered to care leavers up to the age of 25.

Recent campaigns, including from The Children's Society charity, have also shown that care leavers are particularly vulnerable to council tax debt.

The Scottish government has adopted a national policy on the issue while Welsh Government has encouraged councils to adopt their own schemes.

The scheme will be discussed by Blaenau Gwent council's corporate overview scrutiny committee on Wednesday, before it is due to be decided at a full council meeting next month.