Universal Credit (Standard Allowance Entitlement of Care Leavers) Bill [HL]

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 17th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I commend the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester for securing this debate and for the passion that he put into his opening speech, which set out the landscape very starkly.

Striking out into the world on your own for the first time is exciting and daunting for anyone: the opportunity to carve your own path, with new-found independence, is a major step. On the other hand, learning to budget and keep on top of bills, remembering to put a wash on in time so that you are ready for work or college and managing to keep the fridge stocked, let alone keeping yourself healthy, all combine to form a huge learning curve for any young person. It is even more difficult for those without supportive families to fall back on, or for those who cannot stay at home for other reasons.

In most cases, local authorities act as corporate parents for care leavers, giving them the practical, social and emotional support that any good parent would give their child—from help to find the right accommodation to guiding them through job applications and interviews to making sure that they know where to turn if they are having trouble. However, local authorities cannot always meet the needs of young people in care, and that highlights the vital role of charities such as Barnardo’s, Become and the Children’s Society, which have combined to provide noble Lords with an excellent briefing for today’s debate.

In the offer to young people in care, I believe that the question to be asked should always be, “Would this be appropriate for my child?” Can we honestly say that decisions are always made in their best interests? If we cannot, as a society we are failing some of our most vulnerable people—people who need and deserve support to build their lives.

I do not intend to say much about universal credit. In fact, I am indebted to my noble friend Lady Sherlock, herself an ordained priest in the Church of England and now the Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions. She is the only person I have come across—and I have listened to quite a bit on this—who can explain universal credit in a manner that is understandable.

I understand the importance that universal credit has for care leavers. They are often expected to leave care before they are ready, and without the support they need to make a positive start to adulthood. According to Become, around 13,000 young people leave the care system in England each year and, as the right reverend Prelate said, it is estimated that there were around 90,000 care leavers aged 17 to 25 in England last year.

Young people have described leaving the care system as a cliff edge—being forced to leave home abruptly at 18, sometimes even younger, when crucial support, care and relationships fall away and they are expected to become independent overnight. I return to the question that I posed earlier and that every parent should ask: “Would this be appropriate for my child?” Of course, it is not appropriate for any child, and universal credit itself cannot solve the problems facing young people leaving care.

But what universal credit could do is better provide for them by allowing all care leavers from the age of 18 to receive the full standard allowance entitlement for those aged 25 or over. To deny that is to suggest that the essentials for living are somehow available more cheaply to those under the age of 25. That is clearly not the case. Again as the right reverend Prelate outlined, there are precedents in law for treating care leavers as a special case, and I believe this should be added to that. Care-experienced young people generally have more financial responsibilities than their non-care-experienced peers from a younger age, and without the same safety net to fall back on. So I urge my noble friend the Minister to give an undertaking that this problem will be addressed, to give young care leavers a better chance of successfully making their way in life—which, as I said, is something that they both need and deserve.