Government pledges an extra £19m for care leavers
Joe Lepper
Thursday, October 24, 2019
A £19m package of measures for care leavers, including extra money for the Staying Put foster care and Staying Close residential care initiatives, has been announced by the government.
Ministers have also pledged to work better together across government departments to support care leavers and improve internship opportunities.
The funding has been announced to coincide with annual awareness raising campaign National Care Leavers' Week (24-31 October).
The additional money includes £10m for the Staying Put scheme, which allows those in foster care to continue living with their carers until they are 21.
This follows criticism of the scheme by campaigners that it is failing to ensure more looked-after children benefit from the policy.
Ofsted figures published in April revealed that the proportion of eligible looked-after children accessing the arrangements fell from 54 per cent in 2015/16 to 46 per cent in 2016/17.
The funding also includes £6m to expand the Staying Close scheme, which allows those in residential care continue to receive support from carers they are familiar with. This will be rolled out nationwide from 2020/21.
These residential care arrangements have already been piloted in eight areas. Fairways Foundation in Southampton is among these and has involved offering young people leaving care the chance to move into supported accommodation near to their residential home.
Also, an additional £3m will be provided to extend Pupil Premium Plus funding to cover all 16- to 18-year-old care leavers to support their further education.
Meanwhile, 1,000 new internships for care leavers have been created through an expansion of the Civil Service Internship Scheme, which has already offered permanent public sector, emergency services and Whitehall jobs to 220 care leavers.
Further education and training support is to be boosted by ministers due to concerns about the number of care leavers who are classified as Neet (not in employment, education and training). Almost four out of 10 care leavers aged between 19 and 21 are deemed to be Neet, compared to 13 per cent of all young people in this age group.
The government has also pledged better cross-government support for care leavers through the creation of a care leaver covenant board.
This follows October 2018's launch by the Department for Education of the care leavers covenant, which aims to create 10,000 work opportunities for young people.
The board will meet three times a year to explore ways to remove barriers care leavers face, including with housing and employment, education and training.
It will also look at how councils can be supported to employ mental health workers in every leaving care team.
This will be chaired by education secretary Gavin Williamson as well as Cabinet Office minster Oliver Dowden and involve secretaries of state from across government.
Care leaver and looked-after children charity Become has welcomed the new measures, but wants the government to go further.
Chief executive Katharine Saks Jones said: "We hear from far too many young people leaving care who find themselves isolated, uncertain about their rights and at risk of harm.
"Increasing funding for Pupil Premium Plus and expanding Staying Put will help support young people's positive transitions into adult life.
"However, we need to go further - knowing where you're going to live as a young adult must become the norm for all teenagers in care, not the exception."
She added: "The government must make sure that all young people who've been in care receive ongoing support and a helping hand to give them the best start in life, just as any other child would expect from their parents."
Williamson said: "Young people leaving care face enormous barriers in their lives as they move towards independence, from not having a trusted person in their life to rely on, to not having a safe home to return to at the end of the day.
"Housing, healthcare and education are three of the biggest obstacles they have to overcome. We all have a responsibility to do better for them - so I'm bringing together colleagues from across the government to join me in transforming the support we offer care leavers in all of these key areas to make the biggest difference in their lives."
