A new and improved Local Offer for Knowsley’s Care Experienced Young People was launched at a special event on Tuesday 10 October.
The Local Offer provides Care Experienced People with essential information about advice, support, and the vast range of services available to them as well as the many kinds of financial support they can access to help them to make a successful transition into adult life.
The revised Local Offer has been co-produced with the borough’s Care Experienced People and through the Care Experienced Forum, putting children and young people at the heart of the process and setting high aspirations for their future.
A number of key stakeholders have collaborated on the Offer across housing, health, education and employment partners as well as the Social Workers and Personal Advisors who will be signposting the Offer to Care Experienced Young People and supporting them to access services and financial support.
A key area for the local offer is the financial entitlements available to young people to support them into adulthood. These include:
- A Setting up Home grant, which has been increased to £3,000
- A £200 grant for course textbooks and essential equipment to support those in further education.
- An uplift in Birthday Allowances including £233 for 21st
- A Clothing allowance of up to £150
- Free Volair gym pass (up to the age of 21)
- Free prescriptions up to the age of £25
Some additional entitlements have been added to the revised offer, these include:
- Ten driving Lessons
- 52-week Higher Education accommodation costs
- Access to a laptop, smartphone, and data plan to promote digital inclusion.
- Access to mental health support through Polaris
Cllr Margaret Harvey, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services said “We have incredibly high aspirations for our Care Experienced Young People and this enhanced package of support has been carefully created to ensure we are meeting their needs and fulfilling our responsibilities to them as their Corporate Parent, to give them the very best opportunity to begin their independent adult life.
To make accessing the Offer even easier a new App will be launched in Spring 2024 which will offer interactive advice, enable timely information sharing and will make information available in alternative language formats.
You can view the Local Offer here: https://knowsleycareleavers.co.uk/