Sefton Borough Council

Care leavers receive priority for social housing

Priority is offered up to the age of: 25

Banding priority is: B

Additional information / how to qualify:
All Care Leavers to the age of 25 will receive Band B priority banding once registered for Social Housing.

Care leavers do not get to practice independent living with taster flats

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist as a guarantor for care leavers in private rented property

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with providing a deposit for care leavers in private rented property

Care leavers are provided with a setting up allowance

Allowance amount: £2000

Sefton Borough Council in principle will assist with support to pay at least the first year TV licence for care leavers

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with support to pay at least the first year home contents insurance for care leavers

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with support to pay for redecoration costs of a care leavers first flat

Sefton Borough Council in principle will assist with support with broadband costs for care leavers

Sefton Borough Council in principle will assist with support with mobile phone costs for care leavers

Sefton Borough Council will pay towards cooking equipment for care leavers

Sefton Borough Council offers work experience within the council for care leavers

Number of places per year: 3

Sefton Borough Council will pay for work/interview clothes

Sefton Borough Council will pay towards travel to work or training

There are no ringfenced apprenticeship vacancies for care leavers at Sefton Borough Council

Care leavers are working as apprenticeships within Sefton Borough Council

Number per year: 3

Additional information about work and training:
How do we support/improve life chances?

To try and improve the employment, training and educational options for those young people who are NEET, Sefton Leaving Care Team have developed a range of strategies to try and improve outcomes for our young people.

16 to 18 age group:

There are 3 careers advisor from Careers Connect seconded to work within Corporate Parenting Service; they work in partnership with the social worker, the Virtual School and PA’s to target this group with the aim to engage young people to access training or employment. This involves undertaking joint visits to develop relationships; support young people to visit providers; attend interviews and to develop young people’s interview skills and supporting in writing CV’s and applications etc.

Careers Connect aim is to deliver a fresh approach securing better outcomes for Sefton young people who are already NEET, with a focus on those from vulnerable groups, together with a new focus on promoting retention and preventing disengagement of young people in years 9, 10 and 11.

This service is outcome-focused and aims to reduce risks arising from disengagement through the promotion of relevant opportunities to young people, ensuring that they are receiving a high quality IAG (Information, Advice Guidance) offer which develops life, learning and employability skills, and builds resilience in all young people. Achieving these targeted outcomes aims to support Sefton Council in improving its current performance in relation to the reduction of NEET in comparison with Liverpool City Region statistical neighbors and at a national level.’

The impact of this service will hopefully see Sefton’s numbers of NEET reduce as it will target those disaffected looked after children at an earlier age. However, it may be one or two years before we see the true impact which will be reflected within our NEET figures.

19yrs to 25yrs.

Sefton has a full-time Employability Worker. Their role is to work in partnership with the PA to target 19 plus NEET, with the aim to engage the young person to access training or employment. This involves undertaking joint and lone visits to develop relationships; support young people to visit providers; attend interviews and to develop young people’s interview skills and supporting in writing CV’s and applications etc. The worker will also provide ongoing support to maintain sustainability to young people in college and on apprenticeship schemes ensuring they had the equipment they require and provide support during interviews and review meetings.

The Employability Workers role also involves being part of an Employability Working Group with other LA’s Employability Workers, allowing the sharing of information and ideas to assist in improving opportunities for Care Leavers.

Both the Employability Worker and Career Advisor ensure those Care Leavers in college and training have an exit plan for when they complete their course and provide support when required.

Excitingly, Sefton was recently selected to take part in a Local Authority Peer Learning Group. The aim of the group is to learn from other local areas and apply that learning to develop our own practice in working with local employers to provide employment opportunities for young people with care experience. This is a well-supported project that will last for 9 months with the aim to have a positive impact and target our NEET Care Leavers. The program is led by the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum and is being funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, as part of their program of work supporting young people with care experience.

In addition to the above support, the following initiatives are also in place.

Pathway to Employment Initiative for Sefton Care Leavers

This initiative involves regular meetings attended by Service Manager to Carers Connect, Corporate Parenting and Participation Officer, Leaving Care Team Manager, Sefton Corporate Apprenticeship Manager and Sefton Employability Officer.

The aim of this project is to give the most vulnerable looked after children and care leavers an opportunity to gain structured and planned work experience, in ‘protected’ placements with wraparound support, to enable the development of employability skills. The three stages take positive action to address underachievement by allowing them to build the knowledge, skills, experience, qualifications, confidence and aspirations to compete in today’s challenging youth employment market.

The program begins with a 12-week Introduction to Work and Study pathway (this includes 2 days’ work placement and half day at college).

The purpose is to get young people work ready; it provides a wraparound support in relation to time keeping, attendance and behaviour etc. Following successful completion of the 12 weeks they can progress to a paid traineeship or apprenticeship with Sefton Council.

If a young person is considered not ready to progress onto an apprenticeship or traineeship at the end of the 12-week pathway this can be extended to allow them additional time to complete.
Apprenticeship Opportunities.

The Leaving care team receive direct notification when apprenticeship opportunities become available and encourage and support our NEET cohort to apply. We are also able to ‘ring fence’ apprenticeship opportunities where possible and appropriate. Examples of these include apprenticeships within in-house Residential Care, Leaving Care Team and with Public Health.

The Employability Officer provides ongoing support to apprentices providing quarterly reviews to ensure they are on track with the theory element of the Apprenticeship. This also highlights any issues our young people may have and can be dealt with appropriately.

Financial incentive to NEET Care Leavers.

If the young person engages in activities such as voluntary work, attending Sefton At Work training etc. they can receive £20 per week towards expenses from The Leaving Care Team. This is attendance based.
Sefton care leavers who require clothing and travel expenses related to EET opportunities will be financially supported by The Leaving Care Team.

Support offered to young people are as follows:

1. One to one, confidential appointments with an Adviser
2. Latest job vacancies
3. Pre-employment training programmes for employer vacancies
4. Help with producing and updating a young person’s CV
5. Advice and tips on interview techniques and skills
6. Help with completing application forms and cover letters
7. Access to the Internet, telephone, fax and postage related to jobs or training
8. Access to specific training courses related to employability

Sefton Borough Council will ensure each young person has ID documents when they leave care

Passport: Yes

Provisional Driving Licence: Yes

Birth Certificate: Yes

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with driving lessons

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with driving theory tests

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with driving tests

Sefton Borough Council will not in principle assist with CBT tests

Partners local to Sefton Borough Council do not offer support with free travel for care leavers

Care leavers have the opportunity to meet with their corporate parents (councillors)

Care leavers do not have the opportunity for mentoring with any of the senior leadership team

Additional details:
Care Leaver have the opportunity to meet Councilors and members of the Corporate Parenting Board as Care Leavers sit also on and contribute during Corporate Parenting board meetings. If you would like to join the group or would like more information you can contact: Karen Gray. Corporate Parenting Officer 0151 934 3226

Sefton Borough Council has a children in care and care leavers council

Details of council:
the young people names their group - Making A Difference (MAD) Group. Sefton Children in Care and Care Leavers Forum
The MAD (Making A Difference) Group are all young people aged 14yrs plus who work closely with Sefton Council to support the improvement and development of services for our looked after children and care leavers. The group get involved in all sorts of activities including: staff interview panels / training foster carers / training social workers / delivering training at John Moore’s University / sitting on Council boards and working groups / designing and developing information for children and young people.If you would like to join the group or would like more information you can contact: Karen Gray. Corporate Parenting Officer 0151 934 3226 /
[email protected]

Children in care and care leavers council does not have its own bank account

Children in care and care leavers council does not have its own constitution

Sefton Borough Council does not have peer mentors (other care leavers)

Sefton Borough Council does not have other mentoring schemes

Young people do not have to go through the complaints dept to access their care files

Young people who access their care files get emotional support before, during and after disclosure

Details:
The Care Leaver has the support of their Personal Advisor who they can request to support them when accessing or reading their records. The PA will assist the YP in accessing appropriate support. This may involve supporting the YP to see their GP or attending therapeutic sessions. You can do this by contacting the Access to Files Officer on: 0151 934 3760You have the ri