£51 million funding boost announced to support vulnerable young people in the care system

A £51m funding boost to help thousands of vulnerable young people in the care system, and proposals to improve the quality of their accommodation, have today (Monday) been announced by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

The support package unveiled by the Government will fund a range of schemes to support those that are either in or leaving care, as well as proposals to introduce national standards that accommodation settings for 16- and 17-year-olds would have to meet.

These programmes include:

- £33 million continued investment in the ‘Staying Put’ scheme, which helps looked-after children stay with their foster carers after their 18^th birthday if they wish to;

- £3.6 million to extend the ‘Staying Close’ pilot, which gives extra support for young people leaving residential care, and £12m for councils to continue to provide Personal Advisors to support care leavers up to the age of 25; and

- £2.7 million to provide intensive support to care leavers at high risk of homelessness, as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping strategy.

Also launched today is a consultation proposing national standards that all unregulated settings accommodating 16- and 17-year-old children in and leaving care would have to meet, to boost quality and ensure consistency of provision across the country.

It builds on the Government’s confirmation that from September, placing children under the age of 16 in unregulated accommodation will become illegal.

The measures come ahead of Ministers across Government convening today for the third meeting of the Care Leaver Covenant Board, to discuss actions to support care leavers in securing and maintaining suitable accommodation.

The cross-government Board, with membership from the Departments of Work & Pensions, Health, Housing and Justice, has most recently brought forward exemptions to the Shared Accommodation Rate for care leavers, which means that from June, care leavers up to the age of 25 will receive more financial support to help them access suitable accommodation.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

“Every young person in care deserves to live in accommodation that meets their needs and keeps them safe – anything less is unacceptable, and so continuing to prioritise children in care or leaving care is absolutely vital.

“The measures being announced today build on our shared ambition across government to level up outcomes and opportunities for everyone, but especially the most vulnerable – by providing safer homes, reducing isolation among young people leaving care, and by making sure they have a strong support network to rely on as they take steps into adult life.”

The Department for Education is also set to provide more than 5,000 more laptops for care leavers through the Get Help with Technology scheme, which will help to prevent loneliness and isolation among this group of young people. The laptops and routers will mean they can more easily keep in touch with their Personal Advisers and wider support networks, as well as helping them access support services such as for education, mental health support and searching for employment opportunities online.

The consultation on national standards, which will run for eight weeks until 19 July, will consider the views of children in care, care leavers, councils, experts and leaders in the sector to raise the bar for so-called unregulated provision. These are independent or semi-independent settings offering supported accommodation which are not inspected by Ofsted.

The proposals aim to ensure provision is high quality, providing support and accommodation for older children in or leaving care who are ready to develop their independence in preparation for adult life. The consultation will seek views on how Ofsted should regulate the quality of that support and accommodation for 16 and 17-year-olds and intervene where necessary.

Alongside the ongoing Independent review of children’s social care, announced in January and chaired by Josh MacAlister, today’s additional funding and continued support for care leavers will help to improve outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society.

The Care Leaver Covenant Board has been working to improve the opportunities care leavers have access to as they proceed to independence and adulthood since its launch last year.

This includes encouraging businesses to improve targeted employment opportunities and working with councils to reiterate flexibilities around council tax exemptions for those who have left care. The Covenant will also enable businesses and organisations to signpost care leavers towards help to bolster their life skills, and independent living, while they gain work experience through the Kickstart scheme. This cross-government work will continue in the coming months.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Today’s funding, worth around £51 million, aims to support care leavers as they progress through to adulthood and beyond. This includes through:
• • Extended funding for councils to continue to provide Personal Advisors for care leavers up to age 25, as per their duty under the Children and Social Work Act 2017
  • Continued funding for ‘Staying Put’ which requires councils in England to help care leavers who wish to stay with their former foster carer up to age 21
  • Additional funding for councils as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy, to provide intensive support to care leavers at highest risk of homelessness or rough sleeping
• The Department for Education are also providing funding for the 2021 financial year to continue piloting Staying Close, which aims to address the ‘cliff edge’ faced by young people leaving residential care by improving and extending the support provided by care leaver’s former residential units during the transition to independent adulthood.
• The Care Leaver Covenant is working with businesses across the country to improve opportunities and outcomes for care leavers. A diverse group of businesses, including Engie, Compass Group, Lendlease, Remploy, the Local Government Association have signed the Covenant and committed their support to care leavers. Many signatories are also promoting Kickstart opportunities to care leavers, which provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.
• The government consulted last year on a series of proposed reforms to unregulated provision. Following strong support for the proposals, the government confirmed in February that it would proceed with the banning of placing under-16s in unregulated settings from September, consult on national standards and Ofsted-led regulation for settings that accommodate looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17, and legislate at the earliest opportunity to give Ofsted additional powers to take action against illegal unregistered children’s homes.
• While most looked after children and care leavers are placed in children’s homes or foster care, a placement in independent or semi-independent living arrangements, often termed ‘unregulated provision’ because these settings are not regulated by Ofsted, can be the right option for some older children. These settings can support them to develop their independence ahead of adult life. The government is clear that these children should only be placed in these settings when they are ready for the level of independence that they can afford, and they are high quality and meet children’s needs. National standards and Ofsted-led regulation will ensure that these settings are more consistently of the high quality expected.