Supporting Young People From The Care System To Achieve Their Potential
Why do young people who have been in care need extra support?
Evidence shows that care leavers often have much poorer educational and employment outcomes than their peers. Childhood trauma, attachment issues, the subsequent poor mental health, and high prevalence of special educational needs (SEN), that can be a result of these experiences, are some of the factors contributing to these poor outcomes for care leavers in education and employment.
Young people in care are also much less likely to do well in school. In 2021, across the UK less than a quarter achieved a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths, compared to over half of the overall pupil population. Not having these qualifications is a significant barrier to be able to access apprenticeships and employment in the future.
On top of these challenges, care leavers make up 25% of the homeless population and almost 25% of the adult prison population have previously been in care.
What challenges do young people in care face?
Our employment coaches encounter a variety of common challenges in young peoples lives, which may include:
- Anxiety or low levels of confidence
- A tendency to give up when something goes wrong
- Poor financial management
- Little or no work experience
- Limited social connections with working adults
What are Groundwork doing to help?
Groundwork has been running the Care to Work since 2021, building pathways into employment for care experienced young people aged 16-25 who are currently not in education, employment or training and who have struggled to engage with existing support services.
Intensive, trauma informed support is provided to each young person, starting with a comprehensive 1-2-1 assessment to build a holistic understanding of their person’s needs and aspirations.
Once individual goals are clear, our employment coaches provide coaching, guidance and encourage joint problem solving to help young people develop stability in their lives so they can commit to work knowing they have the tools to manage their finances, home life and lifestyle.
From here, we support young people to access short courses which are of interest to them allowing the young people to access industry recognised qualifications such as Customer Service, Health and Safety and CSCS. We often deliver courses on 1-2-1 basis as large group training sessions maybe triggering for young people who have struggled in school or in group settings.
After qualifications are gained, we provide support with the young person’s job search. We help ensure their CV is up to date, we run mock interviews and assist them with the job application process. Where needed, we help young people access professional clothes for the interviews through the Working Wardrobe programme.
Once they have secured employment, we continue to provide in-work support recognising that additional support is needed in order to maintain their progression.
Has this made a difference?
Over the past year, our Care to Work team has helped:
- 35 young people in care start an apprenticeship, a job or pursue further education or training
- 60 young people in care to gain new qualifications
- 50 young people in care to improve the financial capabilities
One of those young people was Ryan*…
Ryan’s Story
Whilst taking part in the Princes Trust TEAM Programme in Ashton Ryan was referred to the Care to Work Team as he had been unemployed for a long time and, due to his lack of confidence and motivation, needed 1-2-1 support to find employment.
Working with his employment coach, they created a bespoke plan, that included looking at; training to develop new skills; volunteering or work placements and employment opportunities.
Ryan decided that he wanted to go straight into employment so together they identified areas of work that he was interested in, and, with support from his work coach was able to apply for suitable jobs.
After being shortlisted for an interview, he was referred to our Working Wardrobe programme, who provided him with interview clothes. Ryan was successful in his application and is now working full time at JD sports warehouse, where his employment coach continues to catch up with him regularly to ensure he is happy and well.
*name changed to protect identity