Care Leavers: Unemployment

(asked on 20th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the number of care leavers who are not in education, employment or training; and what steps she is taking to improve outcomes for care leavers.


Answered by
Claire Coutinho Portrait
Claire Coutinho
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This question was answered on 13th January 2023

The latest data for the year ending March 2022 show that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 were not in education, employment or training (NEET), down from 41% in the year ending March 2021: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2022.

The department has introduced measures to reduce the number of care leavers who are NEET. Care leavers starting an apprenticeship are entitled to a £1,000 bursary and local authorities are required to provide a £2,000 bursary to care leavers who go to university. Care leavers are a priority group for the 16 to19 bursary of £1,200 a year if they are studying in further education.

We have established the Civil Service care leaver internship scheme, which has resulted in over 800 care leavers being offered posts in over 25 government departments, in locations across the UK.

We have launched the care leaver covenant, which provides a way for organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to show their commitment to care leavers through providing concrete offers of support. Over 350 organisations have signed the covenant.

The department has also issued guidance to Higher Education Institutions on how they can ensure care leavers have the support they need to succeed at university.

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