Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 part 11 - continuing care: guidance

3. Eligibility for Continuing Care

Local authorities have a duty to provide eligible young people with Continuing Care ^[9]. The period to provide Continuing Care is from the date on which an eligible person ceases to be looked after by a local authority until the date of that person’s twenty-first birthday.

People are generally eligible for Continuing Care if:

• they are at least sixteen years of age, up to their 21^st birthday^[10]; and
• they were looked after within the meaning of section 17(6) of the 1995 Act^[11]. In practice, this could include young people who have been in foster care, in formal kinship care, in residential care, or otherwise provided with accommodation under section 25 of the 1995 Act on or after their 16^th birthday. This may include young people in foster care or residential education/care purchased by the local authority from private and third sector providers.^[12]

A young person who is the subject of a permanence order under section 80 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 is looked after until eighteen years old. They are therefore eligible for Continuing Care and are entitled^[13] to request this prior to the end of a permanence order at any point on or after the young person’s sixteenth birthday or on reaching age eighteen years. This should be discussed as part of the planning process for the young person leaving care.

Children and young people who are being cared for by means of a kinship care order under section 11 of the 1995 Act are not looked after and therefore are not entitled to Continuing Care. Good practice would be for local authorities to provide appropriate support, advice and guidance to young people when an order under section 11 of the 1995 Act comes to an end.

Continuing Care can be provided to some young people by residential schools^[14] that provide a targeted service^[15] but it may be that these schools can only offer Continuing Care until young people complete secondary education. Local authorities should ensure that proper planning for a move is in place at this point and the young person receives support of an equivalent standard provided previously by the school. While there are clear expectations of the role of schools in relation to transitions^[16], the ultimate responsibility rests with placing authorities (i.e. the authority which placed the young person in that school).

There is no requirement for young people to request or apply for Continuing Care in order for it to be considered as an option. Some young people may be deemed not to have capacity, for example due to learning difficulties or disability, and it is essential that this does not place them at a disadvantage in the process of planning for transitions.

For those young people who are ineligible for Continuing Care there will still be assessment and planning in regard to their transition to independent adulthood, and they may be entitled to support under Aftercare provision.

A young person in Continuing Care is not looked after, they are in Continuing Care. Continuing Care is a legal term to describe the support they are receiving. Young people in Continuing Care are entitled to the same supports (i.e. accommodation and other assistance) as they were when looked after^[17].

Children and young people who are looked after at home are not eligible for Continuing Care, but may go on to receive Aftercare support. Please see Guidance on Part 10 (Aftercare) of the 2014 Act.