Support for 16 to 24-year-olds

Active or Available support

Being considered a Care Leaver and having access to support from the Supporting Independence Team continues up to your 25th birthday.

You have the option from your 21st birthday of choosing whether to continue to have Active support from your Personal Advisor, or to have the support as and when you need it which is called Available support. We would encourage you to continue with Active support, but this is your choice.

If you choose Active support this will mean an active Pathway Plan which is reviewed and updated at least every six months, and your PA will visit you at least every eight weeks.

If you choose Available support, then we will stay in touch in the following ways:

• we send emails out to remind you of the Care Leaver offer and our availability about three times a year
• we may send you information about career opportunities if we think you might be interested in them
• if you are in touch with us, we can
  •  offer some brief advice and guidance
  • offer what we call an intermediary service i.e. a short-term service
  • open active involvement again with a Pathway Plan and regular visits
• if we hear that you might need more support, or that there are some worries for you, then we will contact you to check how you are doing, offer you help, and give you the option to return to Active support. This may include situations such as housing difficulties or homelessness, pregnancy (your own or a partner’s), or if we are informed that you have received a custodial sentence.

At any time from your 21st to your 25th birthday you can move to and from our Active support and Available support.

You can use our form to let us know which available support you are choosing:

Getting in touch and who will help you?

We recognise that you may have a strong relationship with your Personal Advisor and that you may well contact them directly as and when you want to get back in touch. If you do this, they will either seek to help you themselves, or to refer to another PA if this would help you to get support more quickly or effectively.

We have a dedicated PA (Jane Cosstick) for supporting 21 to 24 year olds who will make sure that our offer to you is the best it can be. If you do contact us on our Duty phone or by email, it is likely to be Jane who responds.

You can contact Jane by email at jane.cosstick@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact our Duty Team:

• Email: leavingcaresupport@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
• Phone: 0151 337 4662.

Financial Support

We will pay your Council Tax until you are 25. If you are out of borough, please send your bills as soon as they come to visits@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

If you have not already made a move into your own tenancy and you make it after you have turned 21, we can still make Setting Up Home Allowance money available to you. You can ask your PA for more details.

Many entitlements of financial support and free passes are only until your 21st birthday. The main ones are:

• birthday and festival money
• bus pass for Cheshire West and Chester area
• Brio Leisure pass
• Education/Training incentive

Further details can be found in our Care Leaver Financial Procedures document (PDF, 458KB).