Care leaver offer
Your guide to leaving care
Leaving your home to live independently is a big step, and it is our duty and privilege to support you through this transition to adulthood.
On this webpage, you can find our Local Offer for care leavers which includes a wide range of information, support, and benefits.
Have a look to see what’s available and how you can access it.
If you have any questions, or need support which you can’t see in our Local Offer, your Personal Advisor or Social Worker can support you to access services you may need.
In March 2023, we launched our Corporate Parenting Strategy. The strategy outlines our key priorities and everything we are going to do as a Council to be the best Corporate Parent we can be to you. This document also reminds everyone in the Council that just because you turn 18, that doesn’t mean you won’t need our support anymore – we are your wider family and its important you know we are here to support you in your leaving care journey and as a young adult too.
We also asked for two big things to happen: for the Council to make ‘Care Experienced’ a protected characteristic and for the Council to become a partner of The Care Leaver Covenant. This means that because you have been a child in care in your life, you should be given extra priority in key Council decisions and that you should have access to more opportunities to support you from care to independence.
Children’s Services also consulted with our Children in Care Council. Their views helped shape this Local Offer and they told us they prefer the language of Care Leaver instead of Care Experienced so this is the language we used throughout the offer.
If you want to read the strategy in more detail, it can be found here: