Access to Financial Support

Access to financial support

Welfare Benefits

The main source of financial support when you get to 18 is welfare benefits paid to you from the Department of Work and Pensions. The money provided by the State is to support you in participating in education or training, it is there to support your job hunting or to help care for you if it is clear you are physically or emotionally too poorly to look for work.

Benefits will also pay you your accommodation.

All money that comes from the State is limited and is not what we would want for you in the long term. It is therefore important that you, with the support of the Leaving Care Service try to make these arrangements as temporary as possible so you are able to be financially independent from benefits.

However in the short term we will help you make the right application for your circumstances.

Making a claim

In order to make a claim you will need to have:

  • National Insurance Number

  • Proof of Address

  • Birth Certificate

The Leaving Care Service will do what it can to make sure you have a claim in place in plenty of time before you turn 18.

If there has been a delay in the application for any reason the Leaving Care Service will make sure you are not financially disadvantaged.

To support you make your claim the Leaving Care Service will:

  • Make sure you have all your identification in place

  • Make sure there are dates and times to meet with the young person’s advisor at the Job Centre to make a claim

  • Make dates to call the Benefits help line to make sure you can make the initial claim

  • Make every effort to make sure you have access to the right advice as to what benefits to claim for and what to do to make that claim

  • Offer to attend interviews and appointments with you to support you in your initial claim and claimant commitment interview

  • Continue to offer to attend appointments to address any issues at your request

If you don’t make a claim

Once you reach 18 and despite efforts to support you to make an active claim and this support is not taken, the Leaving Care Service will review its commitment to providing you with financial support.

The Leaving Care Service may decide that it has done what it can to support you access benefit and may review any ongoing commitment to providing financial support.

If there is any sanction applied to the claim the Leaving Care Service will do what it can to support you make an immediate claim to Hardship and will do what it can to make sure your rent is still paid through making sure any claim for Housing Benefit is maintained.

The Leaving Care Service will not see you destitute but it will do what it can to make sure you have exhausted all possible avenues for support.

The Leaving Care Service will not continue to provide financial support indefinitely as our goal is to support you learn to be independent and financially secure in your future.

You will need to tell your Personal Advisor as soon as you can if there are any changes or worries about your benefits.  Please let us know.