CARE LEAVERS
The Children's Safeguards Review
4.1 The Review reached three main conclusions about care leavers:
- the care system provides many children with better support than is available to them anywhere else, but children leaving care are deprived of it at the most critical stage of their lives
- schemes to prepare young people are commended but there were concerns that some authorities appeared to be encouraging premature "independence"
- the Department of Health/Welsh Office should amend Section 24 of the Children Act to convert into a duty the local authority's present power to assist a child it has looked after, and to make clear that the "care" authority is responsible for after care.
The Government Response
4.2 Better support for care
leavers
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4.2 The Government accepts these conclusions and is determined to secure a better future for care leavers. It will take forward a range of initiatives aimed at delivering this by:
- improving the quality of the care system so that young people are better prepared for adulthood
- legislating when Parliamentary time allows to ensure that the responsibilities of local authorities for care leavers up to the age of 18 and beyond correspond more closely with those of parents (including keeping in touch with more young people after they have left care); and ensuring the responsibility for providing after care is placed on the local authority which has been looking after the young person
- improving the educational outcomes of looked after young people and encouraging post compulsory education
- improving services on the ground by promoting the spread and development of specialist schemes for care leavers; and disseminating good practice
- developing new arrangements for 16 to 18 year olds, for announcement by April 1999, aimed at developing life skills and clarifying responsibility for financial support so that young people are looked after until they are demonstrably ready and willing to leave care
- improving assistance to care leavers to obtain suitable and affordable accommodation, including issuing guidance to housing and social service departments on the accommodation needs of care leavers and the support they require to maintain a stable tenancy
- reducing the incidence of youth homelessness.
Parental responsibility
4.3 There has been an increasing trend to discharge young people from care early. The proportion of care leavers aged 16 to 18 who leave at the age of 16 increased from 33% in 1993 to 40% in 1997, largely, it seems, as a cost saving measure by local authorities. This trend is alarming. The majority of ordinary families continue to provide a substantial measure of support to their children until they reach at least 18; the average age at which young people now leave home for independence is estimated to be 22. Moreover, care leavers are likely to be rather more dependent than others at that age in view of their personal and educational histories.
4.4 The Government is committed to reversing the trend of turing children out of care too early. It believes:
- local authorities should look after young people of 16 to 18 and help them to develop the life skills they need until they are demonstrably ready and willing to leave care and live independently, with support if necessary
- the movement out of care should not mean the withdrawal of personal support
- where appropriate there should be staged moves towards independence with the ability to return to a more supportive arrangement should this prove necessary
- there should not be a financial incentive to encourage local authorities to discharge young people early.
4.5 Radical new
arrangements for care
leavers for the future
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4.5 To meet these aims the Government is drawing up plans in consultation with local councils and voluntary bodies for radical new arrangements for 16 to 18 year olds aimed at developing life skills and clarifying responsibility for financial support. This will use existing funding in innovative ways and will be based on a requirement for every young person in care on their sixteenth birthday to have a care and aftercare plan.
4.6 Under the new system, each plan will have a clear "pathway to independence" mapped out. This would include:
- planned movements in accommodation (for example, dates when the young person will move into semi-independent accommodation, and when it is planned they will move on to more independent accommodation)
- an analysis of educational opportunities and career options
- assessment and plans for development of life skills (such as experience of paying rent, budgeting for food and bills and opening and handling a bank account).
The plan will need to specify who would deliver each of the components with approximate dates. The aim will be to reduce support over the life of the plan. The Government will produce and publicly announce detailed proposals for this new system by 1 April 1999.
4.7 Action to prevent
inappropriate early
discharge of young people
from local authority care
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4.7 In the meantime, as part of the improvements being promoted through the "Quality Protects" programme, local authorities will be encouraged to improve assessment of needs, draw up aftercare plans with each young person leaving care and to review them at periodic intervals. Plans should include an assessment of the young person's health, accommodation, employment, education and financial needs and should be used as the basis on which to determine the support and assistance to be offered under Section 24 of the Children Act. This assessment will require close collaboration between all the relevant agencies in the statutory and voluntary sector - social services, education, health, housing, employment and benefits - in drawing up a plan with the young person, together with a commitment to its implementation.
4.8 There will always be some young people who leave care early in the same way that other young people leave home because they have compelling reasons of their own. However, they should not be encouraged to leave, they should always be encouraged to reconsider, and if they do leave, they should be provided with the ability to have access to support and assistance when necessary. In order to afford these young people the sort of support that others might expect from their own parents, the Government will legislate to replace the current discretionary power under Section 24 of the Children Act with a duty to assess and meet the needs of care leavers up to the age of 18. Additional resources to cover this new duty will be made available as part of the new Children's Services Special Grant.
4.9 The Government is also minded to extend this duty until the young person reaches the age of 21. However, it will first study further the costs, limitations and affordability of doing so before proposing the necessary legislation. Subject to affordability and priorities, consideration will also be given to introducing a power to give assistance to 21-24 year olds.
Quality of care experience
4.10 The success with which care leavers make their transition to independence often depends heavily on the quality of care and education they receive whilst in care. The reforms to the care system proposed in Chapter 2 and planned improvements to increase the educational achievements of looked after children in Chapter 5 should strengthen the prospects of these young people as they move into independence. This should also reduce the numbers choosing to leave early because they have lost trust in the system and wish to leave their poor care experiences behind them.
Responsible Authority
4.11 Current legislation places responsibility for the provision of after care services on the local authority responsible for the area in which the young person is living. However, the Government believes that the authority who looked after the young person should retain their parental responsibility wherever the young person is living as a means of ensuring that this role of the care authority will continue until the young person no longer requires assistance - just like ordinary parents. The Government will therefore amend the legislation to place this responsibility clearly on the care authority.
4.12 Change to the
responsible authority
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4.12 It will be open to local authorities to provide a direct service to care leavers, as many do at present, whenever a young person moves to an adjacent area or is in reasonably close proximity. However, where distance precludes this, the local authority will need to enter into clear contractual arrangements with the authority in whose area the young person is living about the level and nature of the services to be provided by the new authority; and to agree responsibility for the costs.
4.13 Where young people formerly in care move away from their home authority to attend higher education, or to take up an employment or training opportunity, the care authority will be required to provide them with information on who can be contacted both at their home and new authority.
Education, Employment and Training
4.14 The Government is taking a range of action to increase the number of young people continuing in post-compulsory education or training and moving into employment. Preparing young people for leaving care and after care support should include inter-agency help in providing information on employment opportunities, advice on training needs and opportunities specific to the individual.
4.15 All Government agencies recognise the need to offer care leavers a range of opportunities and to help them take advantage of these:
- care leavers over 18 have been exempted from the six month qualifying period to be offered a work or training place on the New Deal and the needs of care leavers will be considered in other developments of the benefits system
- the 1998 Requirements and Guidance for Careers Services specifically identifies those in and leaving care as an important client group
- some programmes under the New Start initiative (which aims to develop improved opportunities for those who have become disengaged from learning or lack qualifications and skills) are specifically targeted at care leavers
- the needs of care leavers are being considered as new financial support arrangements are developed for further education students.
4.16 Better education and
training for care leavers
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4.16 The Government accepts that many care leavers take up educational opportunities at a later stage than other young people. For this reason as soon as Parliamentary time allows the Government will introduce legislation to remove the current requirement for care leavers to have already embarked upon a course in education or training at 21 in order to receive assistance beyond that age. Instead, all those formerly looked after for significant periods and in education or training will be eligible for assistance up to 24.
Summary of Current and Proposed Local Authority Powers
and Duties towards Care Leavers aged 16+
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| Current | | | Proposed |
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| 16-18 | duty to advise | | duty to advise |
| duty to befriend | | duty to befriend |
| power to assist | | duty to assess and
meet needs
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| 18-21 | duty to advise | | duty to advise |
| duty to befriend | | duty to befriend |
| power to assist | | duty to assess and
meet needs (under
consideration)
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| 21+ | power to assist with
education/training if course
commenced before the
age of 21 | 21-24 | power to assist
with education/training |
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4.17 The Government also recognises the disadvantages faced by care leavers in higher education who do not have a family home to return to for vacations. For this reason it will introduce legislation when Parliamentary time allows to require care authorities to provide suitable accommodation, where necessary, during vacations from higher education for young people formerly in care up to the age of 24. For the current academic year, universities have been asked to pay particular attention to the needs of care leavers in allocating their access funds and will consider how extra help can be provided in the vacations from the start of 1999/2000 academic year until legislation is enacted.
Accommodation
4.18 It is difficult for care leavers to find suitable and affordable accommodation. They may need a great deal of personal and other support to maintain a stable tenancy. The Government's new initiative for care leavers which will be developed and announced by April 1999 will help care leavers to develop life skills in a staged move to independence and should ensure young people are offered staged moves into independence.
4.19 In the meantime, the relevant agencies - social services, housing, benefits and voluntary agencies - must come together to assess and plan to meet the accommodation needs of care leavers. As soon as possible the Government will issue guidance to Directors of Social Services to accompany the forthcoming revised Code of Guidance on the Allocation of Housing Accommodation and Homelessness.
4.20 The new DETR and Welsh Office code will stress that where care leavers are placed in mainstream social housing they will need on-going support in order to be able to maintain the tenancy. It will also make it clear that both Housing and Social Services authorities have responsibilities to assist vulnerable young people and will require such duties to be exercised jointly to ensure that an appropriate combination of housing and support is arranged to help the young person to live independently and successfully. The social services guidance will also make clear that social service authorities should, as much as possible, prepare older children for independent living by encouraging skills such as budgeting for bills, caring for property and being a good neighbour.
4.21 The DETR Youth Homeless Action Partnership initiative which brings together central and local government in partnership with the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness amongst those aged 16-25 has agreed that the specific needs of care leavers should be considered as part of the examination of all aspects of youth homelessness.
Specialist Teams
4.22 Research and inspection findings show the value of specialist leaving care teams in co-ordinating and delivering supportive services for care leavers. They have a particular value in working alongside carers and supporting established relationships with young people. Specialist teams are by no means universal and the Government will encourage the greater spread of such schemes. A short guide which draws on research evidence of what works, gives examples of good practice for helping care leavers from around the country and incorporates the views of young people, will be commissioned.
Befriending and Mentoring
4.23 Importance of
mentors
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4.23 Young people who have left care may not have the parental support other young people can rely on and while some social workers and former carers do develop a long term befriending relationship with a young person the Government believes that there is a strong case for the development of befriending and mentoring schemes for care leavers. This should build on work being taken forward by a range of voluntary organisations, including the Prince's Trust. The Government will work with expert voluntary bodies and local authorities to promote these schemes for care leavers.
Implementation, Monitoring and Enforcement
4.24 The Government will seek legislation when Parliamentary time allows to strengthen the duties of local authorities towards care leavers, and will issue new guidance on the whole range of care leaver services described in this chapter.
4.25 Although creating new duties on local authorities through primary legislation is an important step, most of the changes outlined above are within the present discretionary powers of local authorities, and the CSR settlement for social services includes new money to support these changes through the Children's Services Special Grant.
4.26 The Government therefore expects local authorities to make a serious start with improving services for care leavers as part of the "Quality Protects" programme from April 1999.
4.27 The Government will take forward central planning of radical new arrangements for care leavers using existing funding and will announce details of this before 1 April 1999. Implementation will be incremental and may include piloting.
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4.28 As with the overhaul of the care system, the Government will closely monitor local authorities' progress with these new objectives for care leavers through the SSI and Joint Reviews. Ministers will, if necessary, use statutory powers of intervention and withhold special grant funding where progress is unsatisfactory.
4.29 New objectives and
target for care leaver
support
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4.29 The Government's commitment to these improvements is shown by the inclusion in the new objectives for children's services of the following:
- "to ensure that young people leaving care, as they enter adulthood, are not isolated and participate socially and economically as citizens".
As part of the "Quality Protects" programme, the Government is also consulting on its plans to introduce two sub-objectives:
- "for young people who were looked after on their sixteenth birthday, to maximise the number engaged in education, training or employment at the age of 19"
- "to maximise the number of young people leaving care after their sixteenth birthday who are in touch with SSD, or a known and approved contact, on their nineteenth birthday".
A target which the achievement of this objective will be measured against has also been announced in the National Priorities Guidance:
- "to demonstrate that the level of employment, training or education amongst young people aged 19 in 2001/2002 and who were looked after by local authorities in their seventeenth year on 1 April 1999 is at least 60% of the level amongst others of the same age in the area".
The Government will also require local authorities to make significant progress in improving other outcomes for young people formerly looked after by 2001.
Outcomes
4.30 The Government recognises that the results of policy development to improve the quality of care and after care will only be seen in the long term. It is hoped that the initiatives outlined above will help to deliver:
- a reduction in the number of young people discharged from care as soon as they reach their 16th birthday
- increased numbers in contact with the responsible authority, and receiving the support and assistance they need, at the age of 19
- increased numbers of care leavers in suitable accommodation and maintaining a stable tenancy
- increased numbers of young people formerly looked after in education training and employment, so that the level of employment, training or education in 2001/2002 for young people aged 19 and who were looked after by local authorities in their 17th year on 1 April 1999 is at least 60% of the level amongst others of the same age in the area
- fewer young people formerly looked after becoming socially excluded including fewer sleeping rough, in prison, dependent on benefits and living in poor conditions.
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