Government 'must care-proof policies'

The proposal, made in a report by the National Care Advisory Service (NCAS), The Care Leavers’ Foundation, A National Voice and The Prince’s Trust, is intended to level the playing field for young people leaving care.

It argues that each central government department should scrutinise policies to make sure that care leavers aged 18 to 25 have an automatic entitlement to any service addressing the needs of vulnerable adults.

For example, it calls on the Department for Work and Pensions to examine the feasibility of identifying care leavers on benefit forms and to consider offering named advisers for care leavers in job centres.

While it suggests that the Department for Communities and Local Government should think about requiring housing officers to work in leaving care services.

The report, called Access All Areas, also suggests that all care leavers are given priority access to support services up to the age of 30, and that government improves information sharing and joint sharing between departments, to make it easier for care leavers to access help.

“Increased housing prices, lower benefit rates and wages for young people and increased educational costs have all contributed to young adults remaining at home well into their mid-twenties, or having repeated spells at home later in life,” the report said.

“Indeed some government policies towards young people such as lower minimum wage and reduced benefits levels appear to be predicated on an assumption of young adults being able to access extended family support up to a later age. Care leavers do not have the safety net and support provided by the parental home.”

Rich Rollinson, chair of the Care Leaver’s Foundation, said: “No-one meant to design policies that prevent care leavers returning to education or consign them to permanent instability. The aim of Access All Areas is to educate and assist all government departments to better understand what needs to be done differently and why.”

Martin Hazlehurst, national manager of the National Care Advisory Service, added: “We want each department to consider how they can encourage better support for care leavers whether this is by offering a job in the ‘family business’, provide a home to return to when needed, or by being that ‘pushy parent’ that advocates for these young people across the system.”

Children's minister Tim Loughton committed to asking ministerial colleagues who attend the government’s Youth Action Group to consider the report’s recommendations and respond accordingly.

“Support for care leavers is still far too patchy and inconsistent across the country,” he said. “Improving outcomes for care leavers is a government priority and will feature strongly in our forthcoming strategy on children in care.”

He went on: “I will work with ministerial colleagues in departments across Whitehall to deliver better outcomes for care leavers. As the corporate parents of these young people, we must and can do better.”

Read the full report here.