There’s No Place Like Home Care Leavers’ Housing Charter

Following consultations with care leavers, housing workers and leaving care workers, A National Voice calls for the following:

1. Accommodation for care leavers must be free from damp and infestations. It should also be structurally sound.
   
2. Wherever possible care leavers flats should be pre-decorated and pre-prepared before care leavers move into them
   
3. Never place a care leaver in either Bed and Breakfast or Hostel accommodation.
   
4. Older care leavers with experience of independent living should be given the opportunity to help care leavers into their new home.
   
5. When care leavers have issues with anti-social neighbours, they must be protected, not just by the housing department
   
6. Too many care leavers are being evicted. Housing departments and magistrates courts need to have a better understanding of their issues and social services should be monitoring how they are managing their rent.
   
7. Care leavers should not be pushed into taking flats in locations that are unsuitable. Stop telling care leavers you cannot refuse an accommodation offer.
   
8. Social services should have in place an out of hours emergency contact for care leavers.
   
9. All care leavers should receive a minimum grant of £2000 for setting up home.
   
10. More emotional support should be provided for care leavers. It is as important to know what to do when you feel lonely and depressed as it is to learn to cook.
    
11. Care leavers should have a forum available in which they can express their feelings around leaving care.
    
12. Care leavers should be able to say they are not ready to leave care yet. This should be supported by social services and/or foster carers.
    
13. Provide a check list during leaving care training, that young people fill out as and when they feel they are competent at the task or skill.
    
14. Provide information written by care leavers to young people approaching leaving care, to inform them of their rights, the process and the experience
    
15. When local authorities place young people out of authority, then it must be part of the pre-care planning to consider how they might be housed there if this is something they choose at the time of leaving care
    
16. Local authority housing workers should receive training on the needs and experiences of care leavers and their responsibility as a good corporate parent.
    
17. The benefits system exclude care leavers from the need to be ‘actively seeking work’ if a care leaver is undertaking an education course at college or university.