Strategy for helping care leavers published

State will support care leavers to achieve specified key outcomes

The government has published its strategy for improving services, support and advice for care leavers. It makes recommendations for local and national government, and wider sectors of society.

The strategy makes a commitment that the government will use the Children's Social Care Innovation Programme to rethink transitions to adulthood for young people in the children's social care system, with a focus on developing new ways to provide care leavers with the personal support networks they need to thrive; piloting 'Staying Close' – a variant of Staying Put for those leaving residential care; and testing out alternative models of delivery for leaving care services through the use of Trusts, Mutuals and other arrangements. It gives a clear commitment to test payment-by-results approaches, and commits the government to create the first care leaver-specific Social Impact Bond.

The strategy document also provides a commitment to support and test approaches that empower care leavers to have a greater say in the design and delivery of services. The document goes on to identify and describe how the State, as corporate parents, will support care leavers to achieve five key outcomes.

The first key outcome is that all young people leaving care should be better prepared and supported to live independently. The actions that the government will undertake in order to achieve this include:

• setting out in law for the first time what it means for a local authority to be a good corporate parent;
• creating a new care leaver covenant;
• introducing a new legal duty on local authorities to consult on, and publish information about, services for care leavers; and
• extending existing entitlements so that all care leavers will be able to access support from a local authority Personal Adviser to age 25.

The second key outcome is improved access to education, employment and training. In order to achieve this the government will:

• promote the take up of supported internships, including through the provision of targeted information to Personal Advisers;
• meet the training costs for care leavers undertaking apprenticeships up to age 25;
• support care leavers' access to, and achievement in, further and higher education, employment and apprenticeships;
• guarantee a place on the National Citizen Service to every child in care or care leaver aged 16 or 17; and
• consider how best to improve access for care leavers to employment opportunities in government departments and their agencies.

The third key outcome is that care leavers should experience stability in their lives, and feel safe and secure. The government will help to achieve this by:

• committing to introduce 'Staying Close' provision for young people leaving residential care;
• continuing to fund local authorities to support Staying Put arrangements;
• providing support for the implementation of the Supported Accommodation Framework;
• raising awareness of care leavers' unique status and their entitlements among prison and probation staff through the provision of additional training; and
• increasing the funding local authorities will receive for supporting former unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

The fourth key outcome is improved access to health support. In order to achieve this the government will:

• through a new Expert Group, produce care pathways, quality standards and models of care for looked after children and care leavers with mental health problems;
• use the new Mental Health Services Data Set to inform the future delivery of services to care leavers; and
• improve accountability regarding the local provision of health services, for example through Care Quality Commission and Joint Targeted Area inspections.

The fifth key outcome is that care leavers should achieve financial stability. The government will help them to do this by:

• exempting care leavers from changes to eligibility for housing support for 18-21 year-olds in Universal Credit;
• reviewing the case to extend the exemption to the Shared Accommodation Rate of housing support within Universal Credit, for care leavers to age 25; and
• ensuring, through our review of the Personal Adviser role, that care leavers are able to access advice and support to help them manage their money.

To read the strategy, please click here.

7/7/16

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• Keywords:
• care leavers