In the first of our new series highlighting positive practice in the social housing sector, Neil Merrick reports on how an arm’s length management organisation transformed the experiences of young people leaving care in Blackpool.
Chloe’s story
Just over two years ago, as she was on the verge of leaving care, Chloe Kidd was taken shopping by an officer from Blackpool Coastal Housing (BCH).
Among the things she chose while shopping with Jane Tolley from BCH’s Positive Transitions team was beige wallpaper for the council flat she was about to move into. “I love neutral and warm colours,” says Chloe.
Months later, instead of moving into an unfurnished flat with bare walls, she set up home in the way she wished. Around the same time, she started a health and social care degree at Blackpool and The Fylde College.
All care leavers receive a £2,000 grant from their local authority to help them move on. This doesn’t mean they find it easy to live independently, but BCH sees the importance of using some of the money to create a home environment in which they feel comfortable.
Two years on, Chloe is in the second year of her degree course and looking for a part-time job. Tolley remains in regular touch, and ensured Chloe received help from a therapist when she felt depressed. “Life feels very different,” says Chloe. “I’m living somewhere that feels like me.”
Why do care leavers need help?
Every year, thousands of young people leave care in the UK with the aim of living independently. Until five years ago, virtually all care leavers who were allocated a council home in Blackpool struggled to hold down the tenancy.
Within a few months, they were generally evicted or asked to leave, mainly due to anti-social behaviour or a failure to comply with the conditions of the tenancy.
“Young people were put into a property and left to their own devices,” says Maggie Cornall, director of operations at Blackpool Coastal Housing.
What’s being done about it?
In 2018, following a short pilot, the Positive Transitions scheme was launched by BCH. The scheme aims to give people in their late teens the type of support they might expect to receive from their parents, both before they leave care and as they set up home on their own for the first time.
Results have been impressive. During the past five years, more than 100 care leavers have been helped to live independently as council tenants, with just one person evicted.
“A home is a person’s foundation,” says Lynn Conifey, one of BCH’s four Positive Transitions officers. “Once you have that in place, you can support them to be part of the community.”
How does the scheme work?
Prior to leaving care at 18, young people are visited by a Positive Transitions officer, along with their social worker and personal adviser. At this time, they may be living with foster parents, in a care home or another care setting.
The next few weeks are key, as the officer attempts to strike up a relationship with the care leaver. This may mean finding a topic they are interested in or meeting them separately for a walk or a cup of coffee.
Part of the time is spent discussing how the young person might spend some of their leaving care grant on furnishing their future home. “Prior to Positive Transitions, there was no plan in place for young people around making a home,” says Conifey. “They were approaching their 18th birthday and faced falling off a cliff edge.”
“Prior to Positive Transitions, there was no plan in place for young [care leavers] around making a home. They were approaching their 18th birthday and faced falling off a cliff edge”
Lynn Conifey, Positive Transitions Officer, Blackpool Coastal Housing
With the prospect of moving into a carpeted home with their own choice of furniture, care leavers are more likely to relish what lies ahead. Once settled, they continue to see their officer on a regular basis, sometimes into their early 20s.
While officers are de-facto parents, they are not there all the time. It’s important to set boundaries, says Cornall, and give young people space to develop their independence.
This may be different to the relationship young people were used to with adults when in care. However, Positive Transitions officers make it clear when young people cross the line. “They need to know that there are consequences stemming from their behaviour for living successfully as an adult,” says Cornall.
Why is the scheme successful?
In effect, BCH is both landlord and support provider, offering a bespoke service to individual care leavers.
“Young people need to be invested in their property,” says Jane Tolley, who joined BCH in 2018 having worked as an education caseworker. “If they don’t like the curtains, they’re less likely to look after it.”
Officers are initially funded by Blackpool’s children’s services department but, once the care leaver reaches 18, BCH uses the intensive housing management element of housing benefit to pay for assistance when required.
Building trust with each young person is vital. Some are suspicious of ‘professionals’ and may initially see housing officers as yet another person interfering in their lives.
Not all care leavers are considered for the scheme. Only those deemed as low to medium risk are offered a council home and, at the same time, are expected to find employment or undertake training.
Each officer is allocated up to 15 young people. Among the support offered is help claiming benefits, as well as money management or debt advice.
‘Charly’ became homeless after leaving care and came to the attention of BCH aged 19, while sofa surfing. She later became pregnant.
By then, Conifey was visiting Charly each week. Though Charly had spent her leaving care grant, Conifey helped her apply to charities for grants totalling £1,600.
Charly now lives in a two-bed terraced house, with twins. “She started to realise that people cared about her,” says Conifey. “She’s a magnificent mother.”
What skills do Positive Transitions officers need to carry out their work?
According to Conifey and Tolley, officers need the following skills:
- Adaptability: the scheme involves far more than just housing
- Patience and resilience: things don’t always go smoothly; some young people can be disgruntled and resist help
- Empathy and caring: officers are quasi parents
- Conflict management: care leavers may be verbally aggressive
- Resourcefulness: there is always a problem around the corner or something new to learn
- A sense of humour: obviously!
Successful outcomes
Over the past five years, 130 young people have been supported by the Positive Transitions team. A few have left council accommodation in a planned way and may even have left Blackpool, but most continue to live successfully in the town as council tenants.
Last year, Blackpool’s children’s services department was praised by Ofsted for the way it had improved support for care leavers since a previous inspection.
Meanwhile, the Department for Education’s new strategy for children’s social care is flagging the importance of helping care leavers and find work, or training, while living independently. Care leaver’s grant is due to be increased this April, to £3,000.
For Cornall, the Positive Transitions scheme shows how housing officers can take on other roles and so reduce the likelihood of young people receiving tenancy warnings, facing evictions or entering the criminal justice system.
It can even reduce long-term mental health difficulties. “We’re setting these young people up and giving them the foundations they need to have successful lives,” she says.
