Children and Social Work Act 2017: Care leavers

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

The introduction of corporate parenting principles means that there is now a definition in England of what good corporate parenting looks like. It makes the whole council responsible for being good corporate parents to looked-after children and care leavers - including housing departments.

Councils will need to produce a local offer outlining what services and support care leavers are entitled to. The role of personal advisers will be extended to cover support for care leavers up to 25.

WHO DOES IT AFFECT?

It is estimated that 10,000 16- to 18-year-olds leave care each year.

Department for Education data shows that around 23,000 care leavers aged 19 to 21 were in touch with local authorities in 2015/16. This is 87 per cent of the 26,340 care leavers known to local authorities last year - eight per cent were not in touch, three per cent no longer required services and two per cent refused contact.

The data shows that 40 per cent of care leavers aged 19 to 21 were categorised as not in education, employment or training, compared with 12 per cent of non-care peers; and seven per cent were in accommodation deemed unsuitable.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Ensuring transition arrangements between care and independent living meet a young person's needs is a challenge for local authorities.

Chloe Cockett, policy manager at charity Become - formerly Who Cares? Trust - says the changes are welcome because housing departments do not always understand care leavers' needs, nor work in tandem with other departments.

"It's important councils make sure everyone working for them understands the needs of children in care and care leavers, understands what their corporate parenting responsibilities are, and understands how they should be fulfilling them," she adds.

Cockett hopes the local offer will solve the long-standing problem of care leavers not knowing what they are entitled to, and how to get it. She adds that the extension of the personal adviser role "corrects a problem that Become has long been calling to be rectified".

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

The key challenge for councils will be making the local offer meaningful and used by care leavers. This means making sure a representative group of care leavers is involved in the development of the local offer in each council, says Cockett.

"Accessibility will be key when delivering this," she says. "Challenges that councils will face could range from care leavers who don't have English as their first language, to those who have other access needs such as a lack of regular access to the internet."

Where the funding will come from to recruit additional quality personal advisers is unknown, says Essex executive director Dave Hill.

"This is clearly a new burden on local authorities," he says. "There's nothing wrong with the principle, but we have to be funded to do that. We've looked at using volunteers to do that role."