Care Leaver Payment: consultation

Ministerial Foreword

The Scottish Government wants Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. To make that happen, we are taking a progressive and continually improving approach to support our children and young people to have the best possible outcomes.

In February 2020, Scotland's Independent Care Review published a series of reports called The Promise. The Promise narrated a vision and told Scotland what it must do to make sure that all children and young people are loved, safe and respected so that they can reach their full potential.

We are absolutely committed to Keeping the Promise to all of our children and young people. This includes making sure that all children and young people with care experience are given the support they need to help them transition from care and move on into adulthood and independent living.

Many young people with care experience do not have the same informal support network that other young people have during transition points in their lives. Our intention is to provide additional financial support for young people moving on from care and into adulthood to help reduce some of the challenges faced during these periods of transition.

I am delighted to launch this consultation which seeks views on our proposed Care Leaver Payment.

The payment will form part of the broader package of support which already exists for those with experience of care, and includes, but is not limited to, access to Continuing Care and Aftercare support for care leavers, the Care Experience Bursary, and Council Tax Exemption for care leavers.

Co-designing the new payment with people who have experience of care and those who provide support to people with care experience will help us develop a payment which best meets the needs of our young people as they move on from care. We want to work with our delivery partners and those with lived experience of care to ensure we get this right.

If you have experience of care, are a kinship or foster carer, work with young people in care, support people with care experience, or have a particular interest in this subject, I encourage you to respond to this consultation and I thank you in advance for taking the time to share your views. Your valuable insights will contribute to the development of a payment which has the potential to positively impact the experience of young people moving on from care in Scotland.

Natalie Don, MSP

Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise