Recommendation 40

HM Government Accepted in Part

154. The Committee is justified in singling out young carers and care leavers as an area of focus where more can be achieved for young people outside of mainstream schooling. 155. Young carers should be in school and benefiting from the same educational opportunities, including careers advice, as all children. However, the Department has recognised the need to better understand their educational outcomes and any impact of caring responsibilities. We have recently added young carers to the school census and have published the first data from that collection recording. As this is a new data collection, we expect the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established, however the census records 39,983 young carers in schools in England in 2022/23. Education data will be available from next year and we will use that information to identify further support needs. 156. Being able to identify these young people, we can ensure that the careers programme offers targeted support tailored to their individual needs to make sure they are aware of all the choices and provide additional support needed to overcome barriers to progression. 157. We recognise that young carers may be unable to fully benefit from their school’s careers programme. As set out in the introduction, the CEC is working with Youth Employment UK to develop a suite of online learning modules aimed at reaching vulnerable young people outside of mainstream education, for example young carers and those being home educated, and the professionals working to support them. These resources aim to engage young people with trusted, self-directed learning and high-quality signposting to pathway information, online experiences of the workplace, sector information and transitions support, and importantly, enable young people to fit their learning around their personal caring responsibilities. 158. The National Careers Service website and helpline also offer support to people 13+ and are very experienced in providing support to vulnerable groups. As described in our response to recommendation 6, the Department is currently enhancing the website, to ensure that the content is age appropriate and accessible and provides engaging and useful content for this younger age group. 159. The Department has put in place other measures to ensure that young carers and care leavers are supported through their education and transition post-18: • The recently announced £10 million investment for 2023–24, and further funding for 2024–25, to extend the Pupil Premium Plus to all eligible local authorities to provide bespoke support for children in care and care leavers in post-16 education, including the provision of improved CEIAG. • The increase in the care leaver apprenticeship bursary from £1,000 to £3,000 from August 2023. Local authorities must provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university. • The Civil Service care leaver internship scheme, which has led to over 880 care leavers taking up paid jobs across government.