Over the last six months, three of our care experienced young people have been working hard to raise awareness of the need for increased welfare support for care leavers. As part of a national project, they have developed six key policy asks which will improve care leavers' access to Universal Credit and reduce the likelihood that they will be sanctioned.
In recent weeks, our group has met with local MPs and Councillors, Directors of Children's Services and leaving care teams across the city and county. We have also been on the local radio and spoken to local reporters about the challenges care leavers face and why our asks are important. Our policy asks are gaining support and traction, and we're delighted with the response we have had so far.
To help us gain momentum, Learning and Work Institute have invited our young people to their London office in April to have an afternoon of comms planning and activity. Alongside this, we will be visiting the Houses of Parliament for a tour, and have a well-deserved chance to do some sight-seeing!
Watch this space to hear a report back from our young people about this brilliant opportunity.
In the meantime, you can read more about our policy asks here. You can also listen to Casey, Darren and Jaden talk about the issues in our Fostering a New Approach episode below.