For example, studies found 46 per cent of care leavers have some form of mental health issue compared to around 10 per cent in the general population, a quarter of the prison population and homeless people have been in care at some point, and only 12 per cent of people with care experience go to higher education compared to 43 per cent of their non-care peers.
When it comes to education outcomes, looked-after children lag behind peers without care experience. The average attainment eight scores for looked-after children in 2020/21 was 23.2 compared to 50.9 for all children in England. Although average attainment has increased in recent years the gap with the general population has stayed roughly the same.
The practical challenges of learning to live independently well before many of their peers have to means care leavers often struggle to engage in learning and hold down jobs. Data from the Labour Force Survey shows that 66 per cent of 18-year-olds and 52 per cent of 19- to 21-year-old care leavers were in education, employment and training. However, 41 per cent of the older age group were classed as not in education, employment or training (Neet) compared with 12 per cent of all young people.
There is an improving picture emerging with accommodation. Since the ban on councils placing care leavers in bed and breakfasts was introduced the proportion of young people classed as living in suitable accommodation has risen to roughly nine out of 10 (see graphics) for those aged 18 to 21.
Factors for poor outcomes
A huge number of factors contribute to the problems care-experienced young people face and it is local authorities’ responsibility to adequately prepare young people to leave care and put support in place for them to thrive in independence. Ofsted's annual report highlights how authorities delivering effective support “tend to know their young people well”. In 2020/21, the inspectorate judged 51 per cent of councils to be “good” or “outstanding” for children's social care services despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“Many care leavers continued to make progress and live with the right support this year,” its annual report states. “Personal advisers and social workers maintained good relationships or increased contact with care leavers, particularly young people who were vulnerable or isolated. But not every care leaver had a positive experience. In some cases, the support that care leavers would normally have received was unavailable or difficult to access.”
Ofsted said the quality of relationships that care leavers had with their personal advisers (PAs) and social workers had a strong bearing on the support they received. This is a theme that the inspectorate elaborates on in its Ready or not: care leavers’ views of preparing to leave care report, published in January.
The report, compiled through interviews of care leavers of all ages, found that although guidance requires young people to be introduced to their PA from the age of 16, more than a quarter did not meet their PA until they were 18 or older. Meanwhile, 40 per cent of children still in care said they were still to meet their PA. Some care leavers felt they could not rely on professionals, some of whom appeared “uninterested” in helping them.
Other key findings from the report included:
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More than a third of care leavers felt they left care too early and lacked the required skills to live independently
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Many care leavers felt isolated and did not know where to get help for mental health, emotional wellbeing and general support
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More than a quarter felt they were not involved enough in developing their post-care plans
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A lack of money-management skills was highlighted by many care leavers
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Around half of care leavers in debt were unaware of the support available to them.
The report sets out a series of recommendations on how councils can improve support so that more care leavers have a smooth transition to independence (see research evidence).
Impact of Covid
Surveys by the National Institute for Health Research, the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers and Ofsted all found care leavers reported some problems in finding appropriate accommodation during the pandemic.
Ofsted reported that “a small number of care leavers lost college places, apprenticeships and jobs”. Often, they were helped by personal advisers back into full-time employment and training.
Increasing pressures on the mental health of care leavers were identified during the pandemic. Research by the University of Bedfordshire found every local authority surveyed said mental health support for care leavers was “a pressing issue”. This research also found the nature and extent of poverty in care leavers’ lives had been exacerbated during the pandemic such as “loss of work, increased heating bills, higher food bills due to shortages of some goods and greater reliance on local corner shops”.
Ofsted's Ready or not study emphasised the challenges the pandemic posed for care leavers. Two thirds of care-experienced people aged 16-34 to respond to the survey said it did have an impact. This tended to be around not being able to see professionals, friends or family due to restrictions, and not being able to access services. Many mentioned their mental health or emotional wellbeing, especially in terms of feeling isolated.
Some felt that the situation left them with no help or support, while others appreciated “workarounds” put in place by professionals.
For both recent care leavers and children currently preparing to leave care, Covid-19 was rarely mentioned. In both age groups, there was a “degree of frustration with the pandemic having been used as an excuse”, Ofsted added.
In recognition of care leavers’ increased needs since the pandemic, Oldham Council employed more PAs to help maintain and strengthen relationships (see practice example). This included setting up regular “teatime chats”, video calls and “random acts of kindness” so that care leavers felt valued and heard.
Current policies
The UK government published Keep on Caring; Supporting Young People from Care to Independence in July 2016. Its commitments included piloting “Staying Close” – a variant of Staying Put for those leaving residential care – and committed the government to create the first care leaver-specific Social Impact Bond. Both policies are still funded by the government.
Another key commitment in the 2016 strategy was for the creation of the Care Leaver Covenant – a promise made by the private, public and voluntary sectors to provide support for care leavers aged 16-25 to help them to live independently. The aim of the Covenant is to provide a different type of support and expertise from that statutorily provided by local authorities. It allows public, private and voluntary sector organisations to pledge support through work experience, apprenticeships and free or discounted goods and services.
Since being established in 2018, hundreds of organisations have signed up to the Covenant and created thousands of work and learning opportunities.
In addition to national measures to improve support for care leavers, individual councils are adopting policies to boost provision. For example, Cumberland Council – a new unitary authority that will take over running the western part of Cumbria from 1 April 2023 – will become the first area to make “care experience” a protected characteristic and in so doing improve care leavers’ rights to access support.
As part of their local offer to care leavers, many councils now provide free travel for them and exemption from paying council tax up to 25. Others also offer every care leaver a work placement or guaranteed interview for an apprenticeship at the council. Earlier this year, Barnardo's called on the government to go a step further and introduce free bus travel for all care leavers aged 18-25 in England.
As more councils have developed their local offers, campaigner Terry Galloway created the Care Leaver Local Offer website which collates what support is available (see practice example).
Dozens of councils have signed up to the Care Pledge, a 10-point plan that places the needs of children in care and care-experienced young people at the heart of council policies. Meanwhile, Harrow Council has become the first authority to sign a charter that commits it to doing away with the practice of automatic pre-birth care assessment referrals for care-experienced parents.
Charity Become has developed a plan that has five key elements of a reimagined care system that has no care cliff edge. It includes a toolkit and neighbourhood design for care leavers and sets policymakers the challenge to remake the care system in a way that better meets the needs of care-experienced people (see expert view).
Changes and challenges
From the outset, the Independent Review of Children's Social Care pledged to put the needs of care leavers at the forefront of its work, establishing an experts by experience board to ensure the voice of people with lived experience of the care system was central to the evidence gathering process and shaping the review's recommendations.
Many of the review's 70 recommendations have been well received by the care sector, in particular proposals to make care experience a protected characteristic in law, measures to reduce the “care cliff” to ease the transition from care to independent living, and introduction of a “life-long guardianship order” when young people turn 18 which would recognise them “as part of a loving adult's family for life”.
However, other proposals have been criticised. Become is concerned that plans for care placements to be commissioned on a regional basis “could move decision making further away from children and young people and the people that know them best”.
Carolyne Willow, director of children's rights charity Article 39, described the proposed removal of independent reviewing officers (IROs) as “a drastic and dangerous move”. IROs scrutinise the work of social workers to ensure children's needs are central to decision making, including preparing them for leaving care.
The Care Leavers’ Association (CLA) described the decision to scrap IROs as “short-sighted” but did back the proposal to replace IROs and PAs with an “opt-out” advocacy system for all young people in the care system.
The review also criticises the government for not banning the use of unregulated supported accommodation for all children instead of just those aged under 16. Instead, new national standards for such accommodation (which is often used as a stepping stone for young people on the way to leaving care) are set to be introduced in 2023.
Ofsted has said the changes to the regulation and registration of supported accommodation for children aged 16 and over will be reflected in its inspection work in the future. In addition, Ofsted is working with the DfE to “toughen the law to increase its oversight” of unregistered settings by 2023.
The inspectorate is also planning to introduce a new judgment on the experiences and progress of care leavers in its revised children's services inspection framework from next year.
Fears are also growing over the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on care leavers. The National Benchmarking Forum at social business Catch22 has warned that a significant proportion of care-experienced 18- to 25-year-olds are now unable to afford basic necessities like food and heating. It has set up a Cost-of-Living Fund to provide additional support for care leavers and has called on the government to boost benefits for those aged 18-25 and ringfence a portion of the Household Support Fund for council leaving care teams.
ADCS VIEW
THERE IS MORE TO DO TO PREPARE YOUNG PEOPLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
By Steve Crocker, ADCS president 2022/23
Local authorities are ambitious about improving the lives of care leavers and take our corporate parenting responsibilities very seriously, and that responsibility rightly extends beyond 18 to the age of 25.
Many young people leaving care are well supported into adulthood and go on to have happy, successful lives. Sadly, however, that is not always the case. Despite greater support for care-experienced young people over recent years, far too many experience challenges such as homelessness and unemployment, and lazy stereotypes about care continue to exist.
Young people leaving care generally live independently before their peers and may not have the networks around them to make what can be an anxious time somewhat easier. Therefore, our role in preparing young people leaving care for adulthood and equipping them with skills, such as how to cook, budget and access support with housing and employment, is critical.
Earlier this year Ofsted published research looking at the planning and preparation that happens before leaving care (see research evidence). A lack of preparedness and personal readiness for the realities of a move to independence were strong themes in the research as was the importance of relationships. Local authorities are working hard to support care-experienced young people with the transition to independence – for example, many have introduced council tax exemptions and have increased the number of apprenticeships on offer.
Many care-experienced young people can stay in care longer than they used to under local authority Staying Put and Staying Close placements if they are not ready to live independently. However, there is much more to do.
The Independent Review of Children's Social Care put forward many recommendations to further bolster support for those who have been in care which we welcome. Much of what is proposed in the review including tackling stigma and discrimination, making care experience a protected characteristic and giving care-experienced people priority access to housing for example, has the potential to make a huge difference in their lives.
The government will publish its full response to the review later this year and we stand ready to work together to develop an implementation plan that delivers for care-experienced children and young people.
We also await the outcome of a recent Ofsted consultation which proposes a standalone judgment for care-experienced people under the ILACS framework. This feels helpful in terms of shining a light on this important cohort and continuing to drive forward improvements.
EXPERT VIEW
HELP FOR CARE LEAVERS TO NAVIGATE THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS
By Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive, Become
Young people leaving care, often on their 18th birthday, are expected to become fully independent overnight – at a much younger age than their peers and without the support that every young person needs to thrive.
Young people describe that time as a “cliff edge” or “like being on death row, counting down the days” until they turn 18. For many, leaving care triggers an abrupt transition into adulthood, falling at a time in a young person's life when they desperately need stability. A concerning number of care leavers end up homeless immediately and many who struggle with the lack of support become homeless later.
Young care leavers already manage running a home, paying all the bills on time, knowing how and where to buy a carpet or cooker that fits, eating well, holding down a job or college course while trying to have a social life, all on a very limited income. That's often without anyone they can call for advice, or who will come round and give them a hand or tide them over financially.
Even before the term “cost of living” entered the minds of the nation, many care-experienced young people were already starting their adult lives in poverty. The universal credit rate for 18- to 25-year-olds is a mere £60 per week, which is far below the poverty line. This really matters for care leavers, who don’t have the same family safety net of financial support that many of their peers can fall back on.
Given the levels of poverty many care-experienced young people face, we worry some will turn to high-interest loans and risk spiralling debts if they can’t pay their bills.
How councils can help their care leavers
As the corporate parents of children in care and young care leavers, it is vital that councils provide practical, considered, and effective support during this crisis, including:
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Contact should be made with every young care-experienced person up to the age of 26, and beyond where possible, by the leaving care team, to ask how that young person is and what they might need right now. Listening to what young people want is at the heart of our organisation for a reason – it matters, and it helps.
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Every local authority should ensure that all young care leavers are able to access information and advice about the financial support available to them. While this should already be included as part of the local offer – given the current economic crisis, we need to see more proactive outreach to young care leavers.
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Local offers could be significantly strengthened with the inclusion of free transport and support to boost energy efficiency.
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Local authorities should appreciate the power they have to provide some relief from the burden of bills – by exempting all care leavers from council tax. Some councils already do this – it should be countrywide.
Above all, care leavers deserve practical and non-judgmental help from the people whose job it is to support them. They also deserve empathy and understanding from other professionals and the wider public. Care-experienced young people already have to navigate a difficult start to adulthood after falling off the edge of the care cliff – the added challenges that the cost-of-living crisis could bring cannot be underestimated.
