Independence or cliff edge?

I finally caught up with the BBC documentary – Joe Swash: Teens in Care at the weekend. It shone a light on the care system once more and clearly showed that unfortunately a lot of young people are sent out into the world into ‘independence’ on their own when they’re just not ready for it. This supports the 2022 report released by Ofsted which found that more than a third of people in England, who had been in care and who responded to its online survey, felt they had left too early and did not feel equipped with the skills to be able to live more independently.

It’s a complex system to get right with a lot of interrelated issues that can combine to create the perfect storm. We know that care experienced young people are more likely to have poor educational outcomes too. Only 13% of care experienced young people achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs in 2020, compared to 68% of non-care-experienced young people.

And only 6% of care leavers in England are in high skilled employment at age 24, compared to 26% of the general population.

So it seems that any potential solution has to be built to be long term and holistic. We’re trying to create this type of result with our Beyond Your Limits programme – yes, there are elements of this programme offered elsewhere as standalone support items but it’s rarely put together and delivered as a comprehensive package. And from what we’ve seen so far, it’s actually the unintended outcomes which are the ones that can then support a young person into independence in the long term i.e. setting up a bank account for the first time and sorting out right to work documents, meal planning, becoming independent travellers and budgeting.

We’re on a journey with this programme as it continues to evolve alongside the young people we support. If you’re interested in finding out more or feel like you could offer meaningful opportunities to some of our young people to support them into independence then please do get in touch.?