Care 2 Work project

WBL Raising Participation & Skills Development Officer Welcome Andy Turner WBL Raising Participation & Skills Development Officer Rochdale Council

The project Ofsted 2015 October…criticism of the corporate parent approach towards Apprenticeships. Asked others over GM what they did Funding via GM New Economy under devolution to deliver a 12 month study into offers of all 10 LA’s, best practice and most importantly to identify gaps and barriers…along with solutions. Visited all 10 LA’s and asked the same questions to Virtual Heads, Social Workers, HR staff, post 19 support staff, IAG specialists. Also sought the views of young people from a care background and ran a workshop at a major GM event. Visited independent care homes. We held a dissemination event with the initial project findings in April and a final report was submitted to the New Economy 2 weeks ago. Will be published eventually! We are going to jump to the report findings, then the recommendations, then hopefully we can have a QA session for around 15 minutes before we finish.

Cohorts Firstly, take a look at the number of returns…8/10 Overall there were 1356…probably just over 1500 This does not include those in private care homes.

Out of Borough Of the 1500 or so 16-19 year olds in care, around 250 were placed outside of their home authority 17% Home authority maintains responsibility…which creates issues that we will talk about later

Those IN Education, Employment or Training College was by far the most popular progression route at 16 (over 80%)

Summary At the time of the surveys there were circa 1500 16-19 year olds in the care of GM LA’s; Of those, circa 250 (17%) were living outside of their home authority; 30% of the cohort were NEET (estimated); On average, only 50% of the NEET cohort were ‘available’; On average under 5% of those NEET and ‘available’ have grade C’s for Maths and English; Question – if we are looking to increase apprenticeship numbers from within the care leaver cohort, are we focussing on the right places? NEET? Inference by Ofsted that NEET’s should be targeted with Apprenticeships…however of the numbers ‘available’ only a small % are capable of achieving the academic elements of an Apprenticeship (Grade C E+M) This prompted us to explore lower level programmes in councils for this cohort.

Existing Apprenticeship programmes We asked how many LA’s had an Apprenticeship programme specifically tailored to attract applications from those in care.

Incentives We asked how many LAs actively included incentives in their recruitment process to attract more applications from those in care. EG Rochdale Council incentive Ring fencing – disliked by HR!

Non-Apprenticeship offers 7/10 LAs offered a programme that sat below the Apprenticeship programme.

Apprenticeship numbers The sum total of those in care, employed as Apprentices within the ‘Family Firm’

University entrants More accessed university in Trafford than overall Apprenticeships!

Out of borough applications

Findings: IAG for those young people placed ‘out of borough’ is often poor with an assumption that IAG is being delivered

Findings: Private care institutions rarely buy in any CIAG Services 60% of residents stay at 18 Communication is poor between LA’s and private care providers

Summary All GM LA’s have an Apprenticeship programme, however only 40% have incentives to specifically attract care applicants; Six times more young people in care access university than council Apprenticeships; Only half of councils use private providers for their programmes for those in care; 70% of LA’s have an offer below Level 2, although not necessarily exclusive to those in care; 50% of LA’s will not accept applications from residents in care if their ‘home’ is another authority; Some LA’s raised concerns about the lack of appropriate, local, pre- Level 2 provision.

Recommendations 1 – Standardisation of Apprenticeship programmes within every GM LA will make referrals from those in care, not living in their ‘home’ LA, much easier. 2- An agreement that anyone in a care environment should be able to access the training programmes offered within their resident GM LA, irrelevant of their ‘home’ LA. 3 – That agreements are developed between GM LAs to ensure those young people living outside of their home authority can access high quality CEIAG. This could be a reciprocal agreement between LA’s with similar numbers, or a charged service. With such varying arrangements in commissioning over Greater Manchester, any opportunities to provide a funded specialist for each LA should be considered.

Recommendations 4 - CEIAG services should be extended in all GM LA areas to age 24, in line with national guidelines and include a tracking function. A dedicated, specialist, arms-length, CEIAG service for those in care should be considered for Greater Manchester. Due to differing rates of funding available in each GM LA area, opportunities for a GM-wide funded programme should be explored. 5– Private care homes should be engaged and encouraged to purchase CEIAG provision. Links with LA’s need to be improved as does communication of opportunities. 6 – A simple directory of programmes and key professionals / contacts for each LA should be held on a central website. This would aid the smooth transition of someone in care when relocating. Contacts should be generic, for example virtualhead@anyLA.gov.uk

Recommendations 7 - That there is a dedicated position for a CIAG qualified post- holder in each LA. The post would act as the link between LA Apprenticeship and training opportunities and social workers / foster carers and young people. The post-holders should form a GM hub, either actual or virtual, ensuring smooth transition of young people into all GM areas. 8 – That a GM-wide inspirational organisation should be tasked with raising awareness of Apprenticeships amongst those in care from year 10. This organisation should also deliver a GM-wide standardised training package on post-16 pathways to Social Workers, Post 19 staff, Foster Carers and Private Care homes.

Recommendations 9 – That a financial package be made available to all young people in care to facilitate transport costs when accessing training programmes, especially Apprenticeships. 10 – That formal links are forged with Virtual Heads Trust and NNECL (National Network for the Education of Care Leavers) to raise awareness of the issues around progression into Apprenticeships in areas outside of GM.

contact andrew.turner@rochdale.gov.uk

Q&A