Care leaver benefit changes ‘must go further’

Benefit rule changes to allow more care leavers to claim income support and housing benefits while they study do not go far enough, Catch 22’s National Care Advisory Service (NCAS) has warned.

Previously care leavers returning to education to study qualifications such as GCSEs or A-levels as so-called “second chance learners” were only entitled to claim income support and housing benefit if the course started before their 19th birthday.

From this month the government has changed the legislation, so that any care leaver aged up to 21 will now be eligible for welfare support.

NCAS has welcomed the move, but believes that ending welfare support for care leavers at the age of 21 is still too soon a cut off point. The service would instead like to see the entitlement extended to all care leavers up to the age of 25.

NCAS senior policy manager Linda Briheim-Crookall said: “With low or no qualifications young people struggle to get into work, or remain in short-term, low paid employment. We are delighted that more care leavers will now be able to return to education by being financially supported up until the age of 21.”

“However, 21 is still too early a cut off point for those young people whose experience of care is coupled with disrupted education. If the entitlement to financial support for second chance learning for care leavers through income support and housing benefit is extended to age 25, this would align with local authorities’ extended corporate parenting role to support care leavers until 25.”

Briheim-Crookall also argued that giving care leavers the chance to return to education at a later age would help reduce the third of care leavers who are NEET (not in education, employment or training).

Andrew Radford, chief executive of young people’s advocacy charity Voice, added: “Access to education and benefits are two of the issues that young people contact Voice’s helpline about most often. So this change is good news which we expect to be welcomed by young care leavers, although we’d also expect them to demand that the benefits are available up to age 25.”