Minister to increase budget to help care leavers

Constable Richard Vibert, the minister for children and families, said he would look to increase the budget for the Care Leavers Offer

Jersey's children's minister has said he would look to increase the budget for the care leavers offer.

The care leavers offer is for islanders aged 16-25 who were in care at 16. It provides care leavers with financial support for things a "loving parent would normally pay for."

The offer covers healthcare, further education costs, driving lessons and money to help towards moving house.

In 2022 the budget for the care leavers offer was £511,000 and the actual spend was £564, 635. While in 2023 the budget was £636,000 and the actual spend was £957,124.

Deputy Inna Gardiner was the minister for children and education for most of that period and said she felt it was important to go over budget.

She said: "It came to my attention that the care leavers offer had major gaps. Issues that were raised ranged from them asking for fridge freezers instead of a fridge, because they wanted to freeze food like most of us do, to major things like how they can access mental health support."

Gardiner added that during her time as minister, spending money on care leavers was a key priority, "they don't have a mother and father, they don't have grandparents to turn to and say, 'Help me'.

"They have us, a corporate parent to support them."

Deputy Inna Gardiner, the former minister for children and education, said she had to spend more than the allocated budget for the care leavers offer because there so many gaps in the funding

The current minister for children and families, Constable Richard Vibert, is reviewing the care leavers offer and said he would look to increase the funding for the offer.

Constable Vibert said: "The budget I think will increase, as you've seen we've run deficits for the last few years."

Mr Vibert added that it was important to review the offer which was first brought in in 2020.

He said: "We need to have a fresh look at things and that's what we are doing and I hope once those plans are in the public realm, people will see we are genuinely improving things for care leavers. "

Carly Glover, CEO of Jersey Cares, welcomed plans to increase the care leavers offer but said there also needed to be a focus on providing stable homes for people in care

Carly Glover, the head of advocacy group Jersey Cares, welcomed the plans to increase the care leavers offer.

But she highlighted the challenges that care leavers in Jersey faced.

Ms Glover said: "They are disproportionately moving to homeless hostels, care leavers are disproportionately represented at HMP Le Moye at the prison.

"These are people we have known for years who are lovely people but have been systemically dehumanised by the experience of having no-one to whom they belong."

Ms Glover thinks in addition to increasing the care leavers offer the solution was to provide "stable, loving permanent homes" for children in care.