Supporting young adult care leavers into work Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 16:53

Supporting young adult care leavers into work took place in London on Thursday 9 February 2012, and addressed what changes need to take place to improve education and work opportunities for young adults leaving care. Despite new legislation in the last three years to help achieve this:

• the number of care leavers aged 19, not in education, training or employment, has increased by 5% since 2009 and by 26% since 2006;
• 33% of looked-after children aged 19 are not in education, training or employment; and
• only 12% of children in care achieve five A*-C GCSEs, including maths and English, compared with 53% of all children.

Linda Dixon, NIACE Project Officer, said:

"Young adult care leavers have even less educational and employment choices and chances in the current economic climate and in addition, the network of organisations supporting them are increasingly stretched. Statistics on the educational achievements of young adult care leavers reflect the challenges they face in making the transition from care to learning and into work. NIACE's event gave delegates the chance to explore these issues further and to identify some of the successes and possible solutions."

Through a range of keynote speeches and interactive workshops, delegates attending the conference - which was also be attended by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Patron of NIACE - gained awareness of the challenges faced by young adult care leavers by hearing from them firsthand, got the chance to voice their own opinions on what needs to happen next and also had the opportunity to discuss future actions with policy makers.

Keynote speakers at the conference included:

• Barry Cullen, National Employment Engagement Manager, NCAS
• Jayne Taylor, Schools and Colleges Liaison Manager
• Carrie Wilson, Care Leaver Officer, Sheffield Hallam University
• Maxine Wrigley, Chief Executive, A National Voice
• Councillor Nick Small, Cabinet Member for Employment, Enterprise and Skills, Liverpool City Council