Agenda item

At the meeting with Aspire in  December , there was a request for   Corporate Parenting Committee  to consider the current position for Young people leaving care who are not in education or training or a Job or have no legal status in the country. The attached  report takes this request forward.

The Committee received a report about the care and support for care leavers.

Young people leaving care were encouraged to get the basics skills for employment and also educational aspirations were encouraged with opportunities to attend university in the borough. There was an opportunity for the council to develop internships for older care leavers and links were being made with the Princes Trust to enable places to be obtained on this prestigious course.

It was noted that 30% of care leavers are classified as NEET (Not in education, employment or training.  The Committee noted that this was not a dissimilar figure to other neighbouring statistical boroughs.  The annual education achievement awards provided members with an indication of the number of young people leaving care that were going onto university.  In response to a question about the educational support to LAC in custody, they would have access to education and learning at their place of custody.

 The Committee were informed that IRO’s oversee the plans for young people leaving care at 18, as they were keen for young people to be encouraged to take up, work, training and learning opportunities.   The Committee learned that some young people will need more support than others and this is largely connected to the confidence of the young person leaving care.   It was accepted that care leavers that are seeking asylum are more limited in being able to access university and work as they are charged oversees student fees and are not able to get employment until their immigration status has been resolved.  To help ensure that the immigration status of care leavers is resolved as soon as is possible, the Young Adult’s service have completed an audit, into the status and progress of each immigration application. The results will inform efforts to regularise the process followed.

 The following information was provided, as a result of Member questions.

• Care leavers will have contact with their personal advisors up to the age of 21 and if they are in education they will have contact up to the age of 25.  If a care leaver chooses to start University at the age of 24, they will still be entitled to access support from the council.
• There were a small number of care leavers with young children and the Young Adults service are working with Aspire to enable them to facilitate a specific support group for these care leavers. CPAC asked to be kept informed on the progress of opening the ‘Junction’ at Wood Green Library.
• The Overview and Scrutiny Panel for Children and Young People were completing a review on the job opportunities available for young people and Cllr Reece offered to speak with the Chair about including care leavers that are NEET in this review.
• The national target for support to care leavers was between 64% to 67% but Haringey had set this target higher at 80% and they were currently achieving just under the national average. The Committee noted that the age for participation in education and training for young people was being increased to 17, this year, and to 18 in 2014. The Young Adults service will ensure that when social workers are helping complete the PEP (Personal Education Plan) they are talking to young people about what they want to be doing post 16 and helping them plan for this.  The Virtual School will also give information about the availability of the 16-19 bursaries to young people.

• The Virtual school, along with Young Adult’s service, will be mindful of where young people want to be in September 2013 and will help them plan for this. It was noted that the October meeting will consider the educational achievements of LAC and it will be useful to also  have an additional report which sets out how many  young people  the  Virtual  school have been  working with to take up   educational and training  opportunities, post 16,and how many have  actually  took up these offers up in September.
• CPAC members agreed to put forward work experience placements which can be matched and offered to young people’s area of interest.