BLACKBURN with Darwen Council is extending support for care leavers to the age of 25.

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 introduced a new duty on local authorities, to provide personal adviser (PA) support to all care leavers up to the age of 25, if they want this support.

Under previous legislation, local authorities were required to only provide care leavers with support from a PA until they reach 21, with that support continuing up to the age of 25 if a care leaver was engaged in education or training.

However this support was not available to care leavers over the age of 21 who were not in education, training or employment.

For care leavers aged 21 or over, the duties required will be to assess care leavers needs and develop and keep under review a pathway plan for the young people who request the support.

As the young person approaches the age of 21, the PA will need to discuss whether they wish to continue to receive support beyond the age of 21.

If the young person wants the support to continue, the Pathway Plan should be reviewed and updated to reflect their needs. The PA will continue to offer support as long as it is requested or up until they reach the age of 25.

New burdens funding will be provided that will enable local authorities to meet the extra demand for PA time that the new duty creates.

The funding that has been allocated to Blackburn with Darwen to implement this new statutory requirement is £6,843 in 2018/19.

Funding for the next financial year has not yet been confirmed.

Executive member for children’s services, Cllr Maureen Bateson, said: “The ultimate aim of leaving care services is to support care leavers so that they can live successful independent lives.

“Each care leaver will reach that point at a different age and there should be no assumption that the new duty means that all care leavers will require statutory support until the age of 25.”

“Where care leavers have been effectively supported to develop a positive social network around them during and after they have left care, they are likely to be less reliant on PA support after the age of 21.

“Although each individual case will be different, in general terms there is an expectation that the level of support that care leavers receive will taper away over time, in recognition of their growing maturity and independence.”