Chapter 10: Young people leaving care
This chapter covers:
1. Universal credit (here) 2. Income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance and housing benefit (here) 4. Financial support from the local authority for 16/17-year-old care leavers (here) 5. Other help from the local authority (here) 7. Challenging local authority decisions (here) Many 16/17 year olds who have been ‘looked after and accommodated’ by the local authority (sometimes called ‘looked after away from home’) cannot get universal credit (UC), income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) or housing benefit (HB). Instead, the local authority is responsible for providing support under section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Local authorities often refer to this help as ‘after care’, ‘after-care services’ or ‘leaving care services’. Young people in this situation are often referred to as ‘care-experienced’ or ‘care leavers’. When someone turns 18, there are no special rules about benefits for care leavers, although they may still be eligible for support from the local authority that looked after them.
Some 16 and 17 year olds are still ‘looked after and accommodated’ by the local authority. The information in this chapter on IS, income-based JSA and HB does not apply to young people who are still looked after. See here for UC. Note: benefits other than UC, IS, income-based JSA and HB are not affected.
Continuing care
Since April 2015, some young people who are looked after by the local authority have been able to ask to remain in their placement after they stop being officially ‘looked after’.1s26A C(S)A 1995 This is called ‘continuing care’. Continuing care means the same accommodation and other assistance as was being provided for the young person before s/he stopped being looked after by the local authority.2s26A(4) C(S)A 1995