Unlocking independence: how ASDAN gives care leavers choice and control over their future

Government figures from March 2024 showed that over 14,000 care leavers aged 19-21 in England, 39% of the total, were not in education, employment or training (NEET).

By comparison, the NEET rate for all young people aged 18-24 in the UK was 14.5% in April to June 2024.

Supporting care leavers in transition to independence

Making the leap into independent living can be daunting for all young people; however, this is even more pronounced for young people leaving care. In an unfamiliar and often challenging world, they frequently find themselves without the support they need to manage life outside of care.

Recognising this significant gap in provision, ASDAN collaborated with care practitioners to develop Moving On – a course designed to equip young people with the skills essential for a successful transition from being looked after to living independently.

Flexible learning, directly mapped to pathway plans

Moving On offers a flexible structure, containing practical, adaptable activities based on real-life contexts. These help care leavers develop the personal effectiveness skills they need to take the next step with confidence.

The course is structured around five modules, aligned to the core areas of care leaver pathway plans:

• Building a home – tenancy, home maintenance, laundry, cleaning, and home safety
• Being healthy – physical health, emotional wellbeing, eating habits, personal safety
• Starting your career – education, exploring and applying for jobs, being an employee
• Managing money – budgeting, borrowing, saving and spending, financial support
• Relating to people – identity, healthy relationships, boundaries, support and community

Each module is designed as a portable journal, packed with practical activities and engaging content to support learning in a practical and relatable way.

Needs-led learning through real-life contexts

While their peers often return to, or remain living in, their parental home well into their 20s, care leavers often do not have this option, despite Staying Put (England) and When I am Ready (Wales) arrangements being designed to enable them to do so. Instead, they face the care “cliff edge”, having to move out and live independently without the safety net of family support.

Each care leaver will have a unique set of needs to support their transition to living independently. Reflecting this, Moving On can be completed with a ‘pick and mix’ approach, to bridge the gap into independence. Learners, and the trusted adult who supports them to complete the course, can choose the activities that are relevant to them in their own current situation.

Empowering young people with financial awareness

Photo: SeventyFour via Getty Images

Blue Mountain Homes, one of the first centres to deliver ASDAN’s Moving On course, provides residential care primarily to looked after children who have been excluded or are long-term refusers of mainstream education. Kirsty Carmichael, its learning co-ordinator, shares how the course develops young people’s financial awareness:

“Being able to manage money is such a crucial skill in all aspects of a young person’s new life,” says Kirsty. “Depending on where they are in the care system dictates how much money they are given.

“In the ‘managing money’ module, we covered weekly shopping budgeting. Our young people didn’t just sit and look at things online, it got them out into the real world. They physically compared different products and prices, and even did taste-tests on different brands and supermarket lines.

“Delivering ASDAN’s Moving On programme has filled a huge gap in what we offered our young people,” Kirsty continues. “The activities frame all the practical, crucial information they need in the real world and give them the chance to experience it in a meaningful way.”

Equipping care professionals to prepare young people for independence

As an education charity and awarding organisation, ASDAN’s mission is to engage, elevate and empower learners with diverse needs. Alongside this, we are passionate about supporting education practitioners, through training and support networks, to prepare their learners for learning, work and life. Moving On’s digital training videos are just one way we are responding to the needs of practitioners, to create flexibility and enhance their delivery of support.

Moving On is the result of years of research into education gaps and how to best serve those hard-to-reach young people in the care system who would benefit hugely from access to real-life skills development. The practical activities prepare learners for the next stage in their lives, and there is no portfolio of work required to assess this progression.

Find out more

Discover how ASDAN’s Moving On course can help young people in your community develop meaningful skills to make a positive transition from care to independent living.

Get in touch with ASDAN’s team of experts today.