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Agenda item

Croydon Offer for Care Leavers, Commitment to Children in Care and National Pledge

Officer: Robert Henderson

Key decision: yes

Decision:

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To agree that Croydon Council and its partners

 

·         Adopt the National Pledge for children in care and care leavers;

·         Make a Croydon Commitment to children in care; and

·         Provide a refreshed local offer for Croydon’s care leavers.

 

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Learning gave a presentation outlining what a Local Offer was, why Croydon’s current Local Offer was being reviewed and how this would respond to recommendations made by Ofsted. Discussions had been had with young people to give them an opportunity to provide feedback; following this, the need to increase aspiration was clear and it had since been established as one of the commitments as corporate parents. The Virtual School had begun working in conjunction with teachers in secondary school to offer a mentoring programme and to increasing apprenticeships. The Care Leavers in Poverty Prevention (CLIPP) Group had also been established.

 

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Learning also outlined the financial entitlement slide, and highlighted that the additional finance of £365,000 had been provided to increase the Setting Up Home Allowance. Some of this finance was also ring-fenced for schemes such as providing the young people with birthday gifts up to the age of 21, and supporting them to learn how to drive; she explained that these were all things that should be provided from the Corporate Parent, as they would from biological parents.

 

The Service Manager for Early Help and Children’s Social Care, Mick McCarthy, addressed Cabinet and explained that young people had contributed to the revision of the Local Offer and had frequently noted that housing needed to be improved. Many young people became homeless in their early 20s, as there was often a large gap in their income, and affording housing was not possible. He also noted that if a young person went to university, their housing benefit would be lost. A new housing strategy was being established for young people, in addition to the improvement of transition work.

 

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Families, Young People & Learning noted the importance of the work and wanted to ensure that carers were supported in the best way possible. In response to her query regarding funding, the Leader confirmed that the work outlined in the report would be delivered.

 

The Cabinet Member for Homes & Gateway Services thanked the Cabinet Member for Children, Families, Young People & Learning and the Service Manager for Early Help and Children’s Social Care for the report and hard work. She noted the importance of security and having the independence of your own home; therefore, the issues regarding rent, benefits and low income was really important. Managing money and paying bills was hard, especially when young people were starting work or university at the same time. She explained that children tended to stay living with their parents until their early 20s now, so she was pleased to see Croydon working hard as a corporate parent.

 

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To agree that Croydon Council and its partners

 

·       Adopt the National Pledge for children in care and care leavers;

·       Make a Croydon Commitment to children in care; and

·       Provide a refreshed local offer for Croydon’s care leavers.

Supporting documents: