Children in Care

(asked on 16th November 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that young people in care receive a comprehensive package of support as they transition to independence.


Answered by
Claire Coutinho Portrait
Claire Coutinho
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This question was answered on 23rd November 2022

The department is committed to supporting care leavers to succeed. Our policies provide a package of support on education, training, housing, employment and maintaining relationships. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final report on 23 May 2022. The department is rapidly working up an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy in response to the review’s recommendations.

The department is providing £36.4 million over the next three years for personal advisors to support care leavers up to age 25. This will help them to navigate services such as housing, health or benefits, and provide practical or emotional support to help them prepare for living independently.

Care leavers starting an apprenticeship are entitled to a £1,000 bursary and local authorities must provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university. The department has launched the care leaver covenant, which has resulted in over 350 businesses offering opportunities to care leavers, including John Lewis, Sky and Amazon. We have also established the Civil Service Care Leaver Internship Scheme, which has led to over 800 care leavers taking up paid jobs across government.

The department is also providing £99 million to local authorities over the next three years. This will help care leavers stay with their foster families after they turn 18 in a ’Staying Put’ arrangement, so they can continue to benefit from a stable and secure family setting as they transition to independence. We are providing £36 million to extend the Staying Close pilot so that more care leavers leaving children’s homes will be supported with move-on accommodation and support from a trusted adult. An additional £3.2 million is being given to local authorities this year to provide extra support to care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping.

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