Support care leavers to strive in their studies
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Our investigation of the state of support for care leavers paints what only can be described as a conflicting picture.
On the one hand, it is encouraging to see that local authorities appear to be heeding the advice of children's minister Edward Timpson to give looked-after young people making the transition to independence more financial support. The 27 per cent rise in the amount paid out in setting-up home grants suggests that councils have switched on to why it is important to give care leavers substantial help to get on their feet.
This positive step makes the fact that spending on support for care leavers going to university dropped over the past year all the more bemusing. At a time when so much emphasis from the government and policy makers has been on increasing the startlingly poor numbers going into higher education, this is particularly disappointing.
The fact that the number of care leavers going to university has gone up by about a fifth has come in spite of a fall in support from their corporate parent. A 20 per cent increase on not a lot is still not a lot, but at least it is going in the right direction.
The same is true for further education numbers where a rise of six per cent, while modest, is still encouraging when you consider the additional obstacles care leavers face in pursuing studies.
Just imagine what could happen if the level of support was raised to a reasonable level. With the costs of university being so high, we need to give care leavers as good a chance as their undergraduate peers to thrive in their studies, complete them successfully and progress into a rewarding career.
But financial hardship for students is a fact of life for many young people as a result of tuition fees and the rising cost of living. This is magnified for care leavers: research from Buttle UK – which has carried out extensive research on the financial support for care leavers at university - shows that money pressures cause care-leaver university students significant anxiety and, in some instances, results in young people having to leave courses.
Another exacerbating factor is that many care leavers are unable to return to their foster carers – people they may have lived with previously for many years – during breaks in the academic calendar because their council has ceased support payments.
Criticism of the logic that sees councils cease support payments to foster carers when young people reach 18 are well made. Extending support for foster carers to allow children in care, whether students or otherwise, to stay with them up to 21 would add much needed stability for the lives of looked-after children. By adding such stability, you are giving these most vulnerable of young people the best chance of succeeding in their studies and life in general.