Care experienced young people: Your rights and entitlements

• You have the right to be involved in any decision that affects you
• All care experienced young people have the right to have an independent advocate
• We must make sure that you are living somewhere that is suitable for you and you’re receiving the support you need
• We must make sure you will have the right support, to have assess to your needs within three months after your 16th birthday, and make the Pathway Plan as soon as possible after that
• We must ensure you have access to the Care Leaver Local Offer

We must by law:

• Listen to your wishes and feelings.
• Keep in touch with you.
• Visit you regularly.
• Provide a named Pathway Advisor.
• Review your Pathway Plan every 6 months as a minimum but more often if this is what you need.

You are entitled to:

• find you somewhere suitable to livay for your accommodation
• pay for your subsistence.

You cannot claim benefits unless you are:

• a lone parent
• a young person with disabilities or ill-health

If you are on a care order living in a secure setting because you were given a custodial sentence, you have the same rights to support as if you were living in the community.

We do not have to pay for everything however, we must:

• pay for your basic living needs
• pay for the things that are in your Pathway Plan
• have a policy which shows the type of additional things that we will pay for, such as clothing, leisure activities, contact with family and friends, childcare
• never give you less money than what you would have got if you were able to claim benefits

For more information, speak to your PA and the Positive Futures team or see the financial support for care experienced young people aged 16-17.

We must by law:

• discuss future support wishes and needs with you prior to your 21st birthday and confirm whether you still wish to receive support beyond your 21st birthday
• give you information about your rights and entitlements up to age 25
• complete an assessment to identify what support you need and what they can do to help
• provide you with a Personal Adviser and provide support for as long as that issue remains and address any new issues if this is what you want
• prepare a full or partial Pathway Plan and review if appropriate
• support you up to age 25 if you have needs as assessed by SBC and can be helped by them
• provide or pay for accommodation during college or university holidays if you are studying away from home
• provide you with other support by buying the items you need directly or, in exceptional circumstances, by giving you cash, that your welfare and education needs require
• give you a £2,000 grant if you are in higher education

You are in ‘priority need’ for housing until you turn 21 and may still be in ‘priority need’ up to 25, which means that the Housing Department should give you somewhere to live if you need housing.

We have a duty to provide accommodation to care experienced young people aged 16+ even after the age of 18 if this needs to be done to safeguard your welfare and if you cannot access suitable accommodation any other way.

We do not have to pay for your ordinary living expenses if you can get employment, benefits, or a student loan.

You can claim benefits like any other person who is over 18 but we may continue to pay for extra things that are set out in your Pathway Plan.

If you are studying in higher education, you will have to apply for a student loan and grant, just like any other young person. Some courses may also have special grants to help you pay for your expenses. Some universities may have grants for care experienced young people. You should seek information from your university and get your Pathway Advisor to give you some help. Or you can visit the Propel website.

We must make sure that you get the funding that you need in order to do as well as you can at college or university. We must also pay the costs towards your education and training, such as special equipment you need and travel. This lasts until the age of 25.

If you cannot access a student loan when you go to university, for example because of your immigration status, we cannot tell you that you cannot attend university and you have to drop out of education. A court ruling has made it clear that we must provide you with whatever support you need to continue studying, including university fees.

For more information, speak to your PA and the Positive Futures Team or view financial support for 18 to 25 year olds and support for care experienced young people attending university.

If you stopped working with us prior to your 25th birthday, but you find yourself needing support, you can still ask for help. It doesn’t matter if you had previously said you didn’t need help. You can now contact your previous Personal advisor or contact the duty team to ask for their help.

We must complete a needs assessment and talk to you about the level of support you need. This could be for one issue you may be struggling with, or many. Your support should only be closed when you feel ready to live independently again.

Young refugees, young asylum seekers and young people without British citizenship who are care experienced young people maintain their status as Care Leavers no matter what is happening with their immigration status. Your immigration status and rights to be in the UK are an important need that will be looked at when making your care and Pathway Plans with you.

You should take advice from an advocate or a solicitor if you are told that you are losing your leaving care support.

If you are under 18, you have exactly the same rights as any other looked after child approaching leaving care.

If you are over 18 and you have leave to remain in the UK (for example, you have been granted Limited Leave to Remain, Indefinite Leave to Remain, Humanitarian Protection or Refugee Status), you are entitled to receive full leaving care support.

If you have been granted leave to remain on the basis that you are an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child (UASC) then this will most likely expire at 17½ years of age and you will need to make a new application before the expiry of your leave. If you make an in-time, valid application for further leave to remain, your leave will continue until a decision is made or you become appeal rights exhausted.

If you do not have leave and you are over 18, your circumstances may be one of the following:

• You are still awaiting a decision on your asylum claim
• You have made a fresh claim for asylum and you are waiting for a decision
• You are appeal rights exhausted, which means your asylum claim has not been accepted and you have either appealed unsuccessfully, or the deadline to make the appeal has passed
• You have an immigration application pending (this will normally be based on your private or family life)
• You have no status

In these situations, we may try to end your support, but will need to conduct a Human Rights Act assessment before we do so. This means we will look at your circumstances, whether it would breach your human rights to remove support (in most cases leaving you homeless/unsupported would breach your rights) and whether there are any barriers to you leaving the UK, such as lack of documentation, medical issues or an outstanding immigration application.

However, in some circumstances, we may try to refer you to the Home Office for asylum accommodation and support, or we may only say they will support you to return. If you are told we are planning to do either, or have told you we will no longer support you, you should seek immediate advice and support from an advocacy organisation and a solicitor.

Immigration is a complex area so if you need more information you can speak to the Positive Futures Team, an advocate, contact the Migrant Children’s Project advice service via email at mcpadvice@coramclc.org.uk, or get some legal advice from an immigration solicitor.

If you have a learning difficulty and/or disability, you should be receiving services as a care experienced young person no matter which team is responsible for your case. As with any other care experienced young person, Children’s Services need to plan for your adulthood. Your disabilities are just one particular need to be considered when making plans for you. Even if you are looked after by the Children with Disabilities Team or referred to Adult Disability or Mental Health Services, you keep all your rights as a care experienced young person.

Unfortunately, not all local authorities offer care experienced young people with disabilities the same support as other care experienced young people.They may try to say that because you have a Social Worker or assessment with an adult social care team, you don’t also need a Personal Adviser or Pathway Plan as well. This is against the law: If you are a care leaver the law says you are entitled to the support explained in the previous sections and having a disability does not make a difference to this.

If you need support at school or college, you may also have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. The professionals around you should be talking to you about the changes that will happen in your life and the services that will support you when you become an adult: this is called your 'transition'. Planning must start for your transition when you are in Year 9, so during the review after your 14th birthday. The planning for transition should be done in parallel with Pathway Planning when you approach the age of 16.

In addition to care experienced young people support, you may need help from adult’s social care because of your disability or health needs. Social care support for adults with disabilities is provided under a law called the Care Act. The Care Act says that if you are likely to need support from adult social services when you reach 18, then your council should do a 'transition assessment' before you become an adult. This is to help them find out in advance what help you will need. They should not leave this to the last minute and they should not let there be any gaps in the support you receive.

Young people with disabilities do not automatically receive services from Adult Services when they become 18. If you are already 18 and you don’t have the support you need, you can ask for a Care Act assessment. Decisions made by Adult Services are made on a different basis than Children’s Services, so they may decide you should not receive their help. If you are refused support from Adult Services, this may be challengeable, and you may want an advocate to help you with this.

Matters related with planning and funding of services can be complicated when there is more than one team involved, or if the council in the area where you now live is different to the council that looked after you. Everyone working with you should work together to make sure that all the support you need is in place. Services should not be stopped or delayed because of disagreements between teams regarding funding.

If you are unhappy about the support you are receiving you should ask for help from an advocate.

You have the right to access your records of being in care.

Children’s Services must keep written records of their work with you, including assessments of needs, Pathway Plans and their reviews. These records should be kept for 75 years.

You can ask to access your records yourself or through other people, such as a solicitor or an advocate, although Children’s Services may ask that they prove that they are acting on your behalf.

You need to ask to access your records in writing.

Children’s Services must give you access to your records within 40 working days.

Although you have a right to be given information Children’s Services have about you, there is some information that they may not give you.

This may be the case if:

• the information on a file identifies other people (called third parties) this information should be removed (called redacted) or given in a way that does not identify these people. The information must be given to you if the third parties have agreed for the information to be passed on to you.
• giving you the information would seriously harm your physical or mental health or that of any other person

Children’s Services should not charge you a fee to access your records.

Reading your care file can be difficult for many reasons so it is a good idea to get someone you trust to help you, for example your Pathway Advisor or someone from the Positive Futures Team.

Our Access to your Care Leaver records has more information on how to request access to your records.

For more information or advice, contact the Positive Futures Team on 01793 466715 or email pfduty@swindon.gov.uk.

You can also contact the following organisations: 

• Coram Voice - freephone 0808 800 5792/text 07758 670 369 or email help@coramvoice.org.uk
• Child Law Advice Service (Coram Children’s Legal Centre) - 0300 330 5480
• Law Stuff (Coram Children’s Legal Centre) 
• Find a solicitor (Law Society) 
• Migrant Children’s Project (Coram Children’s Legal Centre) - email mcpadvice@coramclc.org.uk
• Children’s Advice Project (Refugee Council) - 0207 346 1134
• Shelter - 0808 800 4444
• SCOPE - 0808 800 3333
• Mencap - 0808 808 1111
• MIND - 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
• Help at Hand (Children’s Commissioner) - 0800 528 0731
• Care Advice Line (Become) - 0800 023 2033