SCSH Briefing

October 2002

New Developments in the Throughcare and Aftercare of Looked After Children

Background – Leaving Care and Homelessness

Young people previously looked after by local authorities are particularly vulnerable to homelessness. Recent Scottish Executive research (Still a Bairn?, Dixon and Stein, 2002) found nearly 40% of young people who had left the care of local authorities had experienced homelessness. Previous research shows that between a fifth and a half of young homeless people have been in care (National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness, 1996) whilst 26% of Rough Sleeper Initiative service users have a care background (Interim Evaluation of RSI, 1999).

Legislative Developments

The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (Section 73):

• creates new duties on local authorities to:
• Assess the needs of young people leaving care whom they have a duty or power to advise, guide or assist (as set out under section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995).
• Establish a procedure for considering representations, including complaints, relating to throughcare and aftercare responsibilities (as set out in s29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995).

(Section 29 sets out local authority responsibilities to young people leaving care on or after school leaving age) 

• Gives new powers to Scottish Ministers to make regulations relating to throughcare and aftercare.

The UK Children (Leaving Care) Act (Clause 6):

• Enables removal of DWP (previously DSS) benefit entitlement from certain 16 and 17 year olds who have been looked after (In general terms this group will include young people who have been looked after and accommodated, but who are not lone parents or disabled). In Scotland, DWP benefits are to be withdrawn from this group from 1 April 2004, with DWP resources transferred to local authoritie

Working Group on the Through Care and After Care of Looked After Children

The Scottish Executive’s Working Group on the Through Care and After Care of Looked After Children was established in November 1999, with SCSH representation. The Group was established following consultation on proposals to remove DSS (now DWP) benefit entitlement from 16 and 17 year old care leavers and transfer responsibility for providing financial support, including support with housing costs, to local authorities (as in Clause 6 of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000). 

SCSH, along with other voluntary and statutory organisations, was concerned that the planned transfer potentially increased the risk of homelessness among young care leavers, given the often limited systems local authorities have in place to support care leavers, the switch from an entitlement based demand led DSS/DWP budget to a cash limited local authority budget, and the danger that young people estranged from their local authority may be left without financial support.

Report from the Working Group (published 30 August 2002)

The Working Group Report is welcomed by SCSH as going a long way to allay these concerns. The Report recognises that the current framework of throughcare and aftercare support available across Scotland is variable, and in many places clearly fails vulnerable young people. As a result of the Working Group’s activity the Executive has decided that removal of benefit entitlement and transfer of resources to local authorities should not take place until April 2004. In the meantime the focus is to be on improving existing services.

Key Recommendations include:

• Introduction of performance measures to ensure local authorities
• nominate keyworkers/advisors for all looked after young people leaving care
• record the destination and accommodation arrangements of those leaving care : (para 5.3)
• Of particular importance the Working Group recommends that:
• "Young people should have choices in deciding who their Key Worker/Advisor is, and who need not necessarily be from the Social Work Department" (para. 4.5, SCSH italics). SCSH particularly supports this recommendation as it reduces the risk of young people who are estranged from local authority social work services finding themselves unable to access finance and support.
• Furthermore the Report recommends that:
• "Young people should play a central role in the assessment process, taking ownership of their own throughcare and aftercare assessment and action plans" (para7.3, SCSH italics). SCSH believes that to be effective young people must be involved in and agree every aspect of developing their own throughcare and aftercare support package.

Crucially, given the risks attached to removing current entitlement to the demand led DWP benefits system, the report recommends that:

"Regulations should make clear that minimum packages of support must be at least equivalent to DWP entitlements" and that "Where agreement on appropriate packages of support cannot be agreed between the local authority and young person, regulation should make clear that the young person has, at minimum, entitlement to DWP rates of payment if they are not in receipt of any other income" (para. 4.9, SCSH italics). SCSH welcomes this recommendation as a necessary safety net to ensure no young person is left worse off than under the current DWP entitlement system of support. In general the expectation is that local authorities will provide packages of support substantially better than under the current system.

In relation to financing the proposed enhanced local authority responsibilities the Group recommended that "actual estimates of costs from local authorities should be used" as the basis for calculating the level of resource transfer (para 6.4, SCSH italics)

© 2002 Scottish Council for Single Homeless