Decision details

(i)  That the proposed Draft Care Leavers offer as detailed in appendix 1 be adopted by the Council.

(ii)  That the Offer be reviewed by the Executive Director of Children’s Services by 1st September 2022 to consider further offers available to our young people leaving care from across the council developed through a task and finish group.

(iii)  That the care leaver offer is published on 1st April 2022 and thereafter discussed and reviewed with the care leavers forum biannually to consider if there are any gaps in the offer and how, as corporate parents, Southampton City Council and partners can mitigate these.

The Local authority has a duty as corporate parent to provide services to children and young people who are leaving care. These services should be laid out in an offer which demonstrates how the local authority will support young people with issues around relationships, finance, housing, health and aspirations.

This offer has been devised through discussions with young people and the pathways service to help consider any gaps in provision to our young people, but also to formalise offers that have developed over time to ensure a level playing field and equal access to all care leavers.

We have considered the option of not updating our care leavers offer. We cannot do this as we must ensure our offer is fresh, moves with the times and meets the changing needs of our care leaver population. In developing this offer, we have looked at offers from other local authorities that are judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. This draft offer is positive for our young people who are leaving care.

We are still working with all areas of the council and partners to go further where possible, for example by considering what practical offers they can make to our care leavers. We would of course return to Cabinet if there are additional resourcing implications as directed through our CMB interface.