Money management

The Leaving Care team works closely with Job Centre Plus to ensure that young people can access support quickly and avoid getting into financial difficulty. All benefits will shortly be accessed by one route called Universal Credit. Your personal advisor will support you to get ready for making an application for Universal Credit and ensure you have all the documents you need and can access the online application process.

Young People receiving Personal Allowance payments and those aged 18 to 21 years who are claiming relevant benefits will receive a top up to £60 so that they can access the full potential of their income at the cash point.

Education and Bursaries

16 to 19 Guaranteed Bursaries

Care Leavers are guaranteed a bursary through the Government's 16 to 19 Bursary scheme.

Your personal advisor will help you to make application through your education or training provider and provide letters you will need to prove that you are a care leaver.

Incentives

We want to encourage people to get involved in any activity that might help them move towards training or employment. If you are attending a course of -

• education
• training
• work experience

activities and cannot access a bursary we will consider paying you an incentive and support you with travel and meals. We will also help with equipment that you might need for your chosen course or employment.

Work Experience

If you are undertaking work experience we will support you with travel expenses, they will also support with providing finances for lunch and also any work clothing that you might need if deemed appropriate.

Council Tax Exemption and discretionary housing payment

Hull City Council offers a Council Tax exemption for care leavers 18 to 21 years of age. We will also pay your Council Tax in any area where the council do not give care leavers council tax exemption.

There may also be circumstances were we can request a discretionary exemption at 22 to 25 years which will be based on an assessment of your needs.

If you are completing an apprenticeship programme, and on the minimum apprenticeship wage, if the apprenticeship is with Hull City Council we will top this up to the National Living Wage, we can offer support so that you do not have to struggle to pay your living expenses.

We can help with -

• rent payments
• travel
• lunches

If you are employed on a low wage we can also help you to apply for additional support with your accommodation costs.

Emergency payments and support

Young people who find themselves in financial difficulty can access support from us. This will be based on an assessment of your needs. The support we give may be in cash or in kind (food parcels and travel vouchers) or a combination of both. It is important that you can provide us with all of the information we need to be able to assess your needs and offer you the appropriate support.

It is expected that you are able to take responsibility for your own finances and will be supported to develop your skills to be able to manage this.