The corporate parenting duty was introduced by the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and sets out the council’s role in supporting young people who are either in care or leaving the care system up to the age of 25.
Hampshire County Council has the statutory duty for providing services for children and young people but the Act places an additional duty on district and borough councils to act as a ‘Corporate Parent’ and have regard to the seven needs identified in the Act when exercising their functions in relation to looked-after children and care leavers.
We take a number of actions to meet our corporate parenting responsibility, including introducing a council tax discount scheme for care leavers and concessionary leisure rates for children in care. We also liaise with the county council to identify further opportunities for greater collaboration around housing, community based support, community safety and employability.
Please see the links below for more information on our support for care leavers:
- Council tax
- Housing and wellbeing:
- How much of my rent will the council pay?
- Homelessness Guide for Care Leavers (opens in a new window) (PDF) [256 kb]
- Employment skills and training opportunities
- Benefits
A Care Leavers and Corporate Parenting Update report (opens in a new window) (PDF) [452kb] was taken to the council’s Community, Environment and Partnerships Committee on 29 January 2020 and an update was provided on this work on 17 March 2021.
Hampshire County Council support
The county council has a dedicated page with a wide range of resources to support care leavers.
Volunteering
If you would like to gain some work experience and help people at the same time, take a look at the Basingstoke Voluntary Action's website volunteering page.
Government guidance
Action to help prevent vulnerable young people from becoming homeless (GOV.UK)