Looked After Young People & Care Leavers: Working in Partnership to Transform Lives (A Salford/ Greater Manchester model for partnership working)

Who am I? What do I do? Arron Pile Student & Graduate Diversity Officer Student Life University of Salford

your response to experiences, opinions, events or o thoughts and feelings a way of thinking to explore your learning an opportunity to gain self- knowledge What I will cover…… A bit about the history of supporting care leavers at Salford. Finding out what is out there and getting involved! Fill in any gaps, creating something new… Successful (and not so) partnership working What has come out of it? Partnerships in GM

Some Salford Statistics 560+ LAYP in the care of Salford Council (0-18). 244 in Salford’s primary and secondary schools. GCSE results % achieved 5+ A*-C 6% achieved 5+ A*-C (inc eng and maths) 60+ had a high level of SEN 55% were in non-mainstream settings Of last years (2011) 173 care leavers: 79 in college, 14 in university, 23 in employment, 9 in apprenticeships 48 NEET care leavers leaving care in Care Leavers are students at the University of Salford

In the beginning….. A 2009 project to investigate getting the Buttle UK Quality Mark Spent a year making contacts, reading, training, getting passionate… recommendations made that were Salford specific to management 2010 Implementation of all support recommended by Buttle UK Feb 2011: Applied for QM, action plan included developing support a more innovative level, as basic stuff had been done Feb 2011: iCAN uCAN Conference in partnership with National Care Advisory Service (local authority links) March 2011: First meeting of Salford CAN (Community Action Network)….. but more about this later…

Thinking Outside of Organisational Constraints What does research tell us about the best ways to work with care leavers? Know what the barriers really are! Coming to Uni is not all about education! To what extent is your service young person demand led? Provision of holistic services, not just target-centric KPI or outcome discourse Proactive support, not just for crises Traditionally, research tells us the majority of professionals can have low expectations of care leavers

Step 1: Find out what is out there already Are there existing local groups? Ex Aim Higher partnerships? Existing collaborations between LA and FE? Progression Trusts? If so get involved and/ or make yourself known! Are there any similar regional networks? Regional Virtual School Forums, Leaving Care Forum? Young Peoples Forums? Fostering Networks? Work out how your nearest local authority works. Trust and motivation are key. What can you offer them? Shadow different teams for a better understanding and offer reciprocal shadowing… Get staff lists and organisational structures and study them! …once trust and commitment is built it will be easy to create partnerships.

Step 2: Know what you want, so you can expand what exists to suit you…. It is likely that some networks exist already (see Step 1), maybe they are not fit for purpose, or don’t suit your needs (or young peoples needs)… if so work hard on developing them…. e.g. In 2008 a small group existed called the M62 Group which developed into NorthCLASS…. e.g. After the demise of Aim Higher Manchester a straggling group existed which was attended by a couple of LA’s and two universities. Now it has a annual programme of joint events and organises the annual Greater Manchester Care Leaver Awards..

Step 3: Start something new…. Salford CAN! iCAN uCAN conference (February 2011), worked with NCAS on an employability conference. 80 care leavers across the North West attended University of Salford and Salford City Council - decision to work in partnership to improve the opportunities of care leavers in employment and education Local employer partners, education partners, Job Centre Plus, The Lowry and most importantly – care leavers were invited to join the board. We recruited two care leavers who were instrumental to the project, one of which is Chair. It is essential that care leavers are involved in the decision-making and strategy of the group. Clear this was a project that could genuinely make a difference to LAYP and care leavers in Salford.

Memorandum of Understanding/ ToR “….is an informal partnership which brings together strategic managers, or those appointed by strategic managers from Salford City Council, University of Salford, local companies and learning providers and others who are all committed to supporting care leavers in Salford.” “…members of the partnership accept that they are committed to working closely together to improve service delivery with an aim of raising aspirations and increasing the number of care experienced young people in employment and education in Salford. “…work together to tackle social exclusion and raise aspirations by agreeing and delivering opportunities to support the employability of care experienced young people in Salford…”

Salford CAN Resolute as a board that our future agenda would be driven by the needs and wishes of Salford’s young people. Care leaver board members designed a survey that was distributed across our partnerships in Salford. Expanded our network; gaining committed partners from Further Education, Connexions, Children’s Rights Services, employers and additional partners over the years. Clear delivery plans, identifying key projects we hope to implement to improve opportunities for Salford’s Looked After Young People and those who have left care. Developed a mentoring scheme with Virtual School

Partners in Salford CAN

Partnerships: Creating the Best Outcomes collaboration [kə ˌ læbə ˈ re ɪʃ ən]n1. (often foll by on, with, etc.) the act of working with another or others on a joint project 2. something created by working jointly with another or others

Greater Manchester LAC Forum Set up to ensure links between local authorities were maintained post Aim Higher 4 universities, 11 local authorities, CLA, fostering organisations and a few colleges Annual programme of outreach events and bespoke events offered Delivers training to foster carers as part of mandatory training Organises the annual Greater Manchester Care Leavers Week during National Care Leavers Week Joint training around working with care experienced young people for Student Ambassadors and staff Pool Student Ambassadors and staff for events

NorthCLASS: Northern Care Leavers Activities and Student Support Developed from very informal meetings of Buttle UK Universities along the M62 corridor. Agreement that we needed to expand to encourage universities who provided no support for care leavers in NW, NE & Yorkshire EMCLASS links Development of collation document gave us a focus and a means to attract other universities to the meetings Guest speakers, semi-formal (minutes and agenda) distribution list NNECL Regional Co-ordinators for NE, NW and Yorkshire & Humberside

NNECL – National Network for the Education of Care Leavers 2011, a group of people meet at De Montfort University to discuss a need for a national group Over a year of consultation with a wide group of universities 2013 launched, first meeting in Sheffield 10 local representatives, 5 charities & NUS Dec 2013, first conference at MMU, Manchester Collation of workshop material feeding into action plan as we speak http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/careleaverssupport/nnecl/annualevent/#d.en Governance, communication & conference sub groups set up

Hierarchy of Partnerships

Partnership Problems  Communication! Your partners (esp. LA’s) need a single point of contact for care leavers queries that cover outreach to post graduation. Don’t assume they know the structures of universities Don’t assume teams such as VS and Leaving Care teams talk to each other! Talk shop is good, but after a few years this dries up A focus is needed; create an action plan! For Leaving Care Teams education is not always the focus, find out what is and be accommodating! Be clear whether it is strategic of operational. Contact with social workers, not manager important! Above all be young person focused, not institutional focus

Any Questions? Please feel free to contact me : Arron Pile Student & Graduate Diversity Officer | Student Life, University House, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT t: +44 (0) | e: |