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Hertfordshire County Council

If you've left care or you're about to leave care, we'll help you until you're 25. This is sometimes called the "Local offer for care leavers".

Between the age of 18–21, we will:

  • allocate a leaving care personal adviser to support you
  • work with you to co-produce a pathway plan, at least every 6 months.

 

When you're 21, we'll talk to you about what ongoing support you need and offer guidance through our advice lines any time you need. If we assess that you have an ongoing need that requires support, we will:

  • allocate a leaving care personal adviser to support you
  • work with you to co-produce a pathway plan, at least every 6 months.

 

Leaving care personal adviser

When you're 17, we'll allocate a leaving care personal adviser to you. They'll begin to get to know you and your life. You'll still have your social worker but your leaving care personal adviser will take over once you're 18.

They will:

  • support you and provide advice whenever you need it
  • review your pathway plan and allow you to take the lead to make sure you're getting the right support at the right time
  • help you access any services you need
  • contact you and visit on a regular basis to see how you are.

 

If your personal adviser is not available, you can speak to someone else in the care leavers team:

  • West Hertfordshire: 01442 453869
  • East Hertfordshire: 01438 844666
  • Separated Migrant Care Leavers: xxxxxx.

Standards for the leaving care service

These standards were co-produced with young people. They set out the minimum things you can expect from the Leaving Care Service.

We will work with you up to the age of 25 unless you decide (after you are 21) that you no longer wish to have a worker. From the age of 21, you and your worker will decide together how long support continues for.

The support you are given should be led by your needs. The best way to make sure your worker is aware of your needs and can fully support you, is to discuss everything with your worker and make sure it is all written in your pathway plan.

The role of your leaving care personal adviser is to support you to work towards doing things yourself and becoming independent. It is important to say that everyone is different and you will always be treated as an individual by the Leaving Care Service.

 

Contact with your worker

  • You will be given a contact card with your worker’s number, their manager’s name and theduty number.
  • At age 18 years and 19 years, you can expect a phone call from your worker every month and a face to face visit every other month. Contact can be more than this if you have important things to discuss or if you need a bit of extra support.
  • From age 20 to 21years, your worker should still contact you monthly but face to face visits may change to once every 3 months, recognising that as you grow older your independence skills will increase too
  • From 21 to 25 years old, your worker should still contact you once a month but frequency of face to face visits will be flexible depending on your needs.
  • If your worker is going on annual leave for more than 3 days, they will let you know in advance and tell you who to contact in their absence for support. If your worker is off unexpectedly for illness or other reason, we will let you know as soon as we can and always within 2 weeks.
  • If your worker is going to be away for more than 4 weeks, wherever possible, we will give you a named person who will offer you consistent support in your worker’s absence (on rare occasions this might not be possible due to staffing).

 

Supporting you at meetings and helping with forms

  • You and your worker will decide during your pathway plan conversations what support you need to attend appointments. Your worker will support you to build the confidence you need to attend appointments independently. Meetings may include Job Centre, hospital appointments, and PIP / medical assessment etc.
  • If you are having difficulty completing a form, your worker can assist you as needed, including Universal Credit, housing etc.
  • If there is a wait for your Universal Credit to be paid, Children’s Services will look to support you based on an assessment of needs

 

Supporting you when you get your own flat

  • Where a district council allows viewings of a property before tenancy sign up, your worker (or other key worker if you have one) will view the flat with you.
  • There should be a checklist of what is acceptable for the flat, and your worker should advocate on your behalf with the housing provider if any work is needed.
  • When you have your new flat and have signed your tenancy, we will look to support you in your current accommodation wherever possible until the essentials are in place.
  • The essentials are: a bed, cooker or microwave (if microwave only this should just be for a short time whilst cooker is being arranged), fridge / freezer, washing machine, as well as the electricity and gas being connected with a minimum amount of credit in place. We can provide a suggested budgeting sheet for the essentials with some suggested companies if you find it helpful. We'll also provide information about discounts for care leavers / furniture schemes / volunteers who can help with DIY and local charities etc ‘how to survive after care’.
  • Setting-up home allowance: there can be delays, for example, if something you have requested is out of stock. We'll do all we can to avoid this happening by asking you for more than one option on the essentials.
  • We'll offer you some flexibility on how you spend your setting-up home allowance (e.g. pre-paid cards or cash for smaller items).
  • Your worker will attend the tenancy sign up and keys collection with you and help you understand your responsibilities for paying rent, gas, electric, water rates and will help you understand the conditions of your tenancy.
  • Your worker will help you to move in, and help you to identify who can help decorate and with DIY.
  • Once you’ve moved in, your worker will call or text you every week for a month to make sure you are ok.

 

Supporting you through difficult times

  • Your worker will get to know you over time, and should notice if you are going through a difficult time with mental health. It also helps if you can be as open as possible and ask your worker for help, as your worker will not always know unless you speak to them.
  • Your worker will contact you more regularly when you need extra support.
  • All leaving care workers will attend mental health first aid training, meaning they will know signs to look out for and how to support you.
  • Your worker will provide a wellbeing kit and signpost you to other services who can help eg counselling including online like Kooth, mental health and wellbeing apps.
  • Your worker will refer you to adult mental health services if needed.
  • Any plan and extra support will be agreed by you and your worker (everyone is different).

 

Thank you to the Council for Children and Young People in Care and Care Leavers (CHICC) care leaver’s group for working on these standards. CHICC listens to young people’s views and helps improve things. For information on how to get involved, call or text 07812 323 854 or email CHICC@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

 

Pathway Plan

Your Pathway Plan sets out what support you would like from us or other professionals. It also looks at what you've already achieved. We'll review it every 6 months (or sooner if needed). 

You'll be central in creating your plan so you're in charge of the actions agreed. Your plan includes goals / milestones for:

  • accommodation
  • health, including your mental and emotional health
  • practical life skills, including money management
  • education / training / employment
  • specific support needs, such as relationships etc
  • contingency plans for if something doesn't go to plan.

 

Our commitments to you

Our pledge is based on what Hertfordshire care leavers said was important to them. The things in the pledge should happen for you. 

A message from our leaders

"We are passionate about ensuring Hertfordshire continues to be the county of opportunity for all, where everyone can achieve and share in its success. This includes our children and young people who are being brought up in the local authority’s care, for whom we all corporate parents to. We are extremely proud of Hertfordshire’s children in care and care leavers and remain committed to do all that we can to ensure you can access everything that the county has to offer and support you to feel accepted, safe and loved.

We are committed to our role as your corporate parent; this offer explains how we meet the corporate parenting responsibilities identified in The Children and Social Work Act 2017. We aim to: 

  • Act in your best interests, and promote your physical and mental health and wellbeing.
  • Encourage you to express your views, wishes and feelings, and take them into account, while promoting high aspirations and trying to secure the best outcomes for you
  • Make sure you have access to services
  • Make sure you are safe, with stable home lives, relationships and education or work
  • Prepare you for adulthood and living in your own home.

We use Outcome Bees in Hertfordshire which set out how we will support you to: Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Ambitious, Be Resilient, Be independent, Be Happy, and Be Included. 

Corporate Parenting Strategy

The Children & Social Work Act 2017 introduced a set of Corporate Parenting Principles for our children in care and care leavers up to the aged of 25.

These underpin everything that we do:

  • act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of our children and young people
  • encourage our children and young people to express their views, wishes and feelings, and always take them into account
  • make sure our children and young people have access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners
  • make sure children and young people are safe, with stable home lives, relationships and education or work
  • promote high aspirations and seek to secure the best outcomes for our children and young people
  • prepare our children and young people for adulthood and independent living.

Read the full Corporate Parenting Strategy 2022-25

(This strategy was published before 20 May 2025, under the previous Conservative administration).

 

Health information

Before you turn 18, we'll offer you a Health Summary (sometimes called a Health Passport) which gives a summary of your health from when you were born, including immunisations and significant illnesses (if available).

When you turn 18 you can access some of your personal health information and get general health information and advice through the NHS app. Download the app, register your details and log in each time you need to look at some of your GP health records. The app is available to you from the age of 16 and your social worker will encourage you to download this.

 

Understanding your life

Before you turn 18, you would have worked with your social worker around your ‘life story’. You may have a book about this or received this in another way.

But you may want to know more and, when you're 18, you have the right to access your records held by Children's Services.

Your leaving care personal adviser can support you to apply or, if you would rather explore this without your adviser, you can access the information we hold about you.

Accessing your records can be very difficult and we think it is helpful for you to think about the following things:

  • Are you ready?
  • Is this the right time for you?
  • Will you find out things you didn't know?
  • Do you have people who can support you if you become upset about what you have read?

We encourage you to ask for support from your adviser as this can be a difficult time and we want to make sure you're ok.

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