Young People in Care

David Simpson Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Education Committee, the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart), who provided a very good summary and analysis of our report.

Like other Committee members, the hon. Gentleman will have heard from or met those from the Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers. They have given me a copy of their requests for inclusion in the manifestos of all parties. One of their points is that the average age at which young people leave home is 24; yet young people leave care at 18 and, sadly, it is often earlier—at 16 or 17—for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children or young people in our society. As the Chairman of the Committee said very well, they are the group most in need of support, but we expect them to fend for themselves and to go into independent living.

The point about the difference in treatment at different ages and the way in which we, as supposed corporate parents, allow that to happen, says everything we need to know in summary, and the detail has now been published in our report. The life chances of children in care—whether in education, employment, relationships or housing—are all significantly lower than for other people in society. For example, many of the prison population were in care as children, and 60% of children in care have some kind of mental health problem.

The young people we met told us their stories, as do those who have met other Members at other times. Our report shows that leaving care is one of the key stages in their lives. It is very often a harsh cut-off date, whereas other young people usually have no arbitrary leaving date. Many young people go away and come back, so they leave home over a period; some parents would say that their young people never leave, as is sometimes their experience. However, that is not the case for this group of particularly vulnerable young people, so our recommendations are important.

Our chapter on “Staying Put” gives the figures for those who leave care as 16 and 17-year-olds, and for those who leave on their 18th birthday. A remarkably high number—in the thousands—leave care before they are 18, and many more do so on their 18th birthday, when they are no longer regarded as looked-after children. The questions we want to pose to Ministers and, for that matter, potential Ministers are: is everything being done to ensure that children do not have to leave care if they do not want to, and do local authorities and others apply pressure to get young people to leave? I have heard such a point more than once, and we refer to the financial pressures in our report’s conclusion, where we recognise the resource constraints in relation to the difficulty of extending “Staying Put” arrangements in residential homes.

One of the witnesses who gave evidence to the Committee was Ben Ashcroft, the author of “51 Moves”. He is involved in a campaign to extend residential care to the age of 21, which is as it should be. If as a society we have accepted that it is right for young people to stay in foster care until they are 21, it should be the same for those in residential care. As our report says:

“the young people in question have already experienced troubled and disrupted childhoods and are far too important for their welfare not to be prioritised.”

If we are serious about ensuring that support is available, we need to ensure that local authorities have the money. My council has lost more than 40% of its funding since 2010 and many other local authorities find themselves in that situation. If this Government or any future Government are serious about making a difference for these vulnerable young people and children, they, as well as local authorities, need to ensure that the resources are available. If that does not happen, we will continue to spend far more in later years on looking after the adults that the children and young people become, whether through the high cost of prison, the benefits system or mental health care.

If we are talking about finding extra money to fund the long-term solutions that our report suggests, has the time come to consider which Departments or budgets it will come from? The justice budget and the health budget are two possibilities, but the housing budget, the Department for Work and Pensions budget and the education budget also spring readily to mind.

As we heard from the young people we met and as other young people have told me, when young people leave care, they are often leaving a situation where everything is done for them, with little preparation for having to look after themselves. All too often, they have no concept of how to pay the rent or other bills, how to shop or cook, or how to get education or work. It is no wonder that so many of them end up struggling. A third of young people who leave care end up homeless between six and 24 months afterwards. That is a staggeringly high proportion.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a percentage of young people leave care homes not because they are forced to do so, but because of difficulties that they experience in their lives? Such young people become vulnerable and can then be trafficked and cannot be found again.

[Bill Esterson]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. He is talking about people who leave residential care. The Committee came across evidence of that during our inquiry on residential care and I suggest that he reads the report. It is worrying that society loses track of such a high number of young people.

In this inquiry, we found a clear need for action, whether by doing better with existing resources, providing extra resources or both.