Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at the launch of the Care Leaver Covenant.
Care Leaver Covenant
Today, Friday 26 October, the Children and Families Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, is launching the Care Leaver Covenant scheme. This has been covered by BBC News and the Sun.
The Care Leaver Covenant is a contract for government departments, businesses and charities to pledge support for care leavers, through offering work placements and apprenticeships. More than 50 businesses and charities have signed up to the scheme, alongside every government department in England. Businesses including Amazon, Rolls-Royce and Barclays LifeSkills are among the big businesses to sign up to help young care leavers to reach their career goals and gain valuable life skills.
Minister Zahawi has set an ambition for the scheme to create 10,000 work opportunities over the next ten years, helping young people to gain experience as they enter the job market.
The Civil Service will be providing 12 month internships for every government department in Whitehall, whilst many universities including Cambridge, Leeds and Manchester are committing to supporting care leavers through bursaries or accommodation.
Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi said:
Becoming an adult is a daunting and challenging time for all of us, but I know from speaking to many young people leaving care, this transition can feel like facing a cliff edge.
This is a landmark moment on how businesses can support care leavers, who through no fault of their own have been dealt a difficult hand in life.
Young people leaving care have often overcome huge challenges but struggle to achieve the same positive outcomes in life as their peers, which is simply not fair. When we talk about burning injustices, this is what we mean - so we need to be more ambitious for these young people.
Working with businesses, charities and every government department, our new Covenant will improve the offer we make to these young people, through work placements, skills training or access to university so that they can fulfil their potential and flourish as adults.
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