Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the current employment rate is for care leavers, 12 months after leaving local authority care.

The latest data for the year ending March 2023 shows that 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training, compared to 13% of their peers in the general population.

Improving care leavers’ outcomes is a government priority and the department has established a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State from the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and including Ministers from 12 other departments, to consider what more can be done collectively to improve care leavers’ outcomes.

The department’s broader ambitions for reform of children’s social care are set out in the response to the independent review carried out by Josh MacAlister, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642460653d885d000fdade73/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.

In relation to supporting care leavers to engage and succeed in education, employment and training, the department has:

• Established the Civil Service Care Leaver internship scheme, which has resulted in nearly 1,000 care leavers appointed to roles across government departments.
• Continued to extend the care leaver covenant, with over 400 businesses having signed up and published their offer to care leavers, including John Lewis, Sky, Amazon and the NHS.
• Increased the care leaver apprenticeship bursary from £1,000 to £3,000.
• Provided £24 million in 2023 to 2025 to increase the support provided by virtual school heads to care leavers in 16 to 19 education.
• Begun work to develop an accreditation scheme for further education and higher education providers who have a strong support package in place for care leavers.