Local programmes in England offering tailored support to young care-experienced adults are being supported by a new £3.6 million fund.
Managed by UK Community Foundations, the Care Leavers’ Programme aims to improve the life chances of care leavers through decentralised regional funding.
The £3.6 million match-fund programme will run over three years and is being funded by the Local Authorities’ Mutual Investment Trust (LAMIT), a shareholder of the UK’s biggest charities asset manager, CCLA.
Seventeen community foundations are working closely with their respective local authorities to fund a range of individual care leavers and charitable organisations that help care leavers navigate their way through adulthood.
Types of support include giving guidance for care leavers experiencing homelessness in the West Midlands; providing positive practical experiences for young care leavers in Cambridgeshire; offering one-to-one personal and professional work-based mentoring in Cumbria; and helping parent care leavers and migrant care leavers in Essex.
Cllr Richard Kemp CBE, Deputy Lord Mayor of Liverpool and Chair of LAMIT, said the fund was also intended to engage new partners at all levels, including in the commercial, justice and health systems, to improve support for care leavers nationally.
Cllr Shaun Davies, LGA Chair, said: “Councils support thousands of young people who become care leavers every year, whether that is finding a home to live in or help into work.
“Alongside our communities, the LGA is delighted to be able to support this fantastic new initiative that can help to transform care leavers’ lives as they make the transition into adulthood.”