Agenda item

This report provides an overview of support for Care Experienced young people.

The Corporate Parenting Panel considered the Care Experienced Young People report which provided an overview of support for Care Experienced young people [statutory Care Leavers]. The Panel received a short presentation overview from the Head of Quality Assurance, Shaun Hanks.

In brief, the presentation highlighted an overview of the numbers and issues raised in relation to Leaving Care:

-        At the end of February 2022, there were 679 aged 18-25 Care Experience young persons who were receiving support through an active pathway plan.

-        Young people over the age of 21 were deemed independent and were welcomed for additional support through the service.

-        There were 66% of unaccompanied asylum seeking children, however, not all had leave to remain, which made resources difficult.

-        There was a significant number of male children looked after that mostly fell within the unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

-        Ethnicity showed over 60% of an over representation in both Asian-British and Black-British young people. [This also mirrored the Looked After Children population.]

-        The service had a duty to keep in touch with the young people every two months [less than keeping in touch with Children Looked After] and there was better improvement since last year, seeing results of 92% in 17-18 year olds, and 98% in 19-20 year olds.

-        There was a gradual increase and improvement with pathway plans. The performance indicator had been a very helpful tool to address improvement as the service currently saw an 82% increase over the last few months.

-        Education, Employment and Training had seen some difficulties within the last two years in the wake of the pandemic, however 75% of Care Experienced young people were in Higher or other Education, Employment or Training, which was above their statistical neighbours. The percentage highlighted that some unaccompanied asylum seeking children had no resource to public funds and other access matters.

-        The service had improved in working towards providing pleasant suitable accommodation for Care Experienced young people, by ensuring the property was seen by a personal advisor before being let out; and helping to provide alternative accommodation following a short notice of an eviction. Independent Living with support was used more, and Staying Put was well received particularly for the 17–18 year olds.

In response to queries raised by the Panel, the Head of Quality Assurance, clarified the following:

In relation to the issues in the monitoring and performance of pathway plans, there was a better timeliness in the older group (18-25 year olds) than the younger group (16-18 year olds) mainly due to the misunderstanding of care and pathway plans, though with the gradual improvement on the pathway plans, the service was making monitoring and performance improvement sustainable.

In relation to ethnicity, the data was collated from an overview in comparison to neighbouring local authorities and did not provide an overview of the service’s own position.

ACTION: To provide information on (1) whether there was a change within the ethnicity data of Care Experienced young people and Looked After Children; and (2) the disproportionality in employment within the Care Experienced population particularly highlighting how many Asian and Black young people were in employment, education, or training.

In response to the service’s vision for the Care Experienced Leavers Club and the offer for Care Experienced young people particularly as participation was different to Children Looked After and Care Leavers such as transport or travel money, no internet access, it was said that the service needed to make better ways for Care Leavers involvement using better communication and online digital participation to participate in the Club. Following the pandemic and other contemporary issues, change included peer to peer support. Further, there was also Care Experienced societies and unions available for the Care Experienced Club to explore, reaching out to adult care leavers and sighting helpful links to education, universities, and employers.

The Panel RESOLVED: To endorse the areas of focus for 2022-23

Focus for 2022:

-        Ensure caseloads remain manageable to enable the best support for an increasing number of Care Experienced young people.

-        Further develop peer support and a ‘Care Experienced Club’ to focus on the needs of young people entering work and becoming independent.

-        Understand better the support needs and risks for our Care Experienced young people, particularly for our asylum-seeking population.

-        Expand training opportunities and learn from young people’s experiences.

-        Improve the accommodation offer for young people to ensure the right help is available to enable young people to achieve independence with a stable support network.

The Chair thanked officers for their report.