In July 2016, the Government published ‘Keep On Caring’ to support young people from care to independence.
All young people who leave care are now provided with support in the form of a Local Offer. This should include help with the transition to living independently; support with finding accommodation and with any costs of participation in education, training and employment. Kent County Council’s Local Offer can be found here.
However, in order to help Care Leavers get the best possible start to adulthood, other organisations also need to play a part and that’s where the Care Leaver Covenant comes in!
Organisations that sign up to the Care Leaver Covenant are able to offer a support package to Care Leavers. Some of the activities organisations might offer, include:
- Providing care leavers with opportunities to enter the world of work, such as offering work experience placements, work shadowing placements, internships, traineeships and apprenticeships
- Providing care leavers with additional support. For example, one-to-one mentoring or pastoral support and advice, such as financial guidance, career/employment guidance, educational prospects and opportunities
- Providing care leavers with opportunities to try new things e.g. discounts for sport, leisure and cultural activities along with discounted retail offers
- Providing or supporting Care Leavers in educational and training opportunities that will help open up future employment opportunities
To help you access this support, the Care Leaver Covenant App has been created to show you these useful offers provided by organisations, charities and businesses across the UK. They are exclusive to Care Leavers, and are intended to help you start your career, stay healthy and make new friends.
Largely, this App is designed to work offline, so once it is installed you don’t need to rely on having WiFi or an internet connection to be able to use it. This also means it won’t be using any of your phone contract data. The App will be updated with new offers as they become available, and anything new will be automatically synced to your App when you have got a connection, such as in a library or a cafe. Download it at Google Play or the Apple App Store!
posted by Mark Butcher