NLCBF has submitted two briefings to the government’s Tackling Child Poverty Strategy :
The briefings include key findings and messages from YPBMF’s powerful ‘In Their Own Words‘ reports; key messages from leaving care professionals and policy recommendations of what would make a difference.
Our Key Asks for care experienced parents, developed with care experienced parents from YPBMF
To Increase income:
- A ‘Starting Nursery Fund’ to cover the first month of nursery costs
- Extend guidance for employing care experienced individuals to include consideration of the needs of care experienced parents.
- Support care experienced parents practically to return to education
- Paid time for care experienced parents aged 16-25 when their child is sick
- Care experience awareness training for nurseries
To Reduce Outgoings:
- Enhanced maternity grant for care experienced parents up to the age of 25
- Extend Cold Weather payments for energy to all care experienced parents on Universal Credit even if they are working
- Care Leavers Covenant to work with businesses in the children and family industry to provide specific discounts and opportunities
To Increase Resilience:
- Emergency fund in Local Authority leaving care teams for essentials/emergencies
- Create Child Trust Funds for the children of care experienced parents who may find it difficult to provide savings for their children.
- Provide a national model of support for care experienced parents such as that provided by Project Unity in Wales.
To Enhance Local and community support:
- Dedicated section of each LA’s Local Offer for care-experienced parents
- All LAs to sign up to Good practice charter for care experienced parents
- Build awareness and advocacy about the needs and rights of care experienced parents within health and other early years services.
- Care-experienced parents should get support build their own ‘village’ of informal support
- Commission the Family Nurse Partnership nationally and remove the upper age limit for eligibility for care experienced parents
Our Key Asks for care leavers, developed with care experienced young people from YPBMF & leaving care professionals:
To Increase income:
- Over 25 Rate of Universal Credit from the age of 18.
- Change supported accommodation funding to ensure better off in work.
- Enhanced wages and financial support for care experienced apprentices, up to Living Wage
- Support for living costs during the first months of work including promotion of wage stream type services
- National rent deposit and guarantor scheme for care leavers
To Reduce Outgoings:
- National offer for care leavers in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill- Amendment NC40
- Council tax exemption nationally to tackle postcode lottery
- Care Leaver Covenant to focus on sourcing discounts on living costs
- Ringfence element of the Household Support Fund
To Increase Resilience:
- Emergency Fund for essentials and emergencies in each Local Authority,
- Fund tailored financial education for care-experienced young people
- Fund activities in Care Leaver’s Hubs around financial inclusion
- Banking sector to produce guidance on how to support care-experienced young customers
To Enhance Local and community support:
- Introduce corporate parenting duties to all government departments & public bodies in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill
- National offer of free public transport for care experienced young people
- Dedicated, timely and care experienced aware mental health support, using the Operation Courage model for armed forces veterans,
- National offer of free prescriptions and gym membership.
- Funding for activities that support wellbeing
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed, particularly to those care experienced individuals who took part in the In Their Own Words surveys and shared their experiences of being care experienced parents.
View Young Person's hub