We need to do more to help care leavers

Compared to the last time Ofsted were in, the council has notched up a whole grade from its previous inspection, in early 2015, which found that services for some of the most vulnerable people in our community ‘required improvement.’

It is clearly a great credit to all those involved, including council officials, social workers and carers, that Ofsted have bestowed such a vote of confidence.

After all, out of 150 local authorities in England less than 40 are rated as good, and our local council is up there amongst the best of them for the effectiveness of its children’s services department. Only two councils in the country are judged ‘outstanding’, with many more deemed ‘inadequate’.

Behind every bureaucratic and process driven exercise, however, there are real human beings with complex and challenging care needs. Looked after children in the UK make up around one per cent of the youth population.

Yet, these children are disproportionately over-represented in the juvenile justice system; exclusions from school; and once they have left care – are more likely to be found sleeping rough on our streets than just about any other social grouping.

The real tragedy is that it doesn’t have to be this way. By law, the council – operating as a so called ‘corporate parent’ – has it within both its imagination and powers to ensure these young people are placed on a more positive lifetime trajectory. The fact that as corporate parents we don’t really achieve this important goal is a scar on the whole community and, frankly, it should shame us all.

Educational attainment is one of the biggest determinants of a person’s life chances. In the distant past, youngsters could leave school with next to no qualifications but could still walk straight into a job. Of course, the labour market is very different today. Research shows that employers look for a minimum number of at least five good GCSEs; they tend to favour graduates even if the role doesn’t require a degree; and criminal records, however minor, are a complete bar to most of the professions.

This summer, in Brighton and Hove, 68 per cent of students in the general population taking GCSEs in English and Maths achieved at least a pass 4 grade. For the council’s looked after children, this figure drops to 21 per cent, shockingly low.

In other words, only a fifth of the children the council is currently responsible for are being equipped with the basics skills to progress their achievement in ways perhaps the rest of the community would take for granted. It’s not all doom and gloom of course: people with care experience are often the most resilient characters; many have achieved against the odds – becoming well known entrepreneurs or pops artists, like Rita Ora, who was once in a children’s home.

Tom Bewick is a Labour councillor and chair of trustees for Beyond, the Care Leavers’ Trust in Brighton and Hove.