Government accused of ‘systemic’ failures in outcomes of vulnerable care leavers

By The Press Association30th October 2015News EnglandCare Leavers, Looked After Children, News England, Young People / Youth Work, Youth Work

Young people leaving care face worsening outcomes, a committee has warned, as it accused the Government of failing the vulnerable.

The quality and cost given to the 10,000 young people aged 16 and over coming out of care each year “varies unacceptably” across the country and is a systemic issue, the Public Accounts Committee warned.

Two-thirds of local authorities’ care leaver services are inadequate according to Ofsted inspections, the committee said.

It recognised that more good practice in providing support for those leaving care is emerging, but urged government and local councils to take more responsibility for providing good quality support for people.

The committee said: “The scale of variability in the quality and cost of support, and a lack of understanding of what causes this, show that this is a systemic issue, rather than a problem in just a few local authorities.”

Among its recommendations the committee has called for the Government to set out clear objectives in its care leaver strategy, and called on the Department for Education to take formal responsibility to improve the quality of support for those coming out of care.

Too many of the young people are in unsuitable accommodation, the committee said, urging the department to regularly review the issue and support local authorities in trying to improve the quality of places to stay.

Concerns were also raised about cutting funding to foster parents, with the committee calling on the department to review the impact of the staying put policy introduced last year, which allows people to stay in care after they turn 18 – when funding is reduced by 70%.

In July a National Audit Office report found that the life outcomes for many of the young people involved had deteriorated over the past seven years.

It found that the number of care leavers in England who were not in education, employment and training (Neets) was running at its highest level for more than a decade.