Help with Your Finances
Help With Managing Your Money
We want you to be financially secure, and make sure that you can manage your money now and in the future.
How We Will Help You
We will provide financial advice and debt management support.
We can help you if times get difficult, for example:
- Emergency gas and electric top up cards
- Food and drink
- Clothing allowances
- Emergency crisis payments
Your PA will help you with these.
Additional services
Additional services are available for Care Leavers depending on your status.
Children and young people with a disability have access to the Send Local Offer which is tailored specifically to your needs.
This section explains what is provided for each leaver status.
When you are 16-17 years old
- We will help you open a bank account.
- If you are living independently (not with a foster carer or in a children’s home) you will receive independent living allowance (ILA) of £71.93 per week.
- If you are in hospital or custody we will give you £12 per week pocket money.
We will work with you to make sure that you are ready to claim benefits when you reach 18 years old. - We will give you a birthday present and a festival allowance. This could be for an occasion you want to celebrate, like Christmas or Eid.
When you are 16-17 years old
- We will help you open a bank account.
- We will work with you to make sure that you are ready to claim benefits when you reach 18 years old.
When you reach 18 years old
Your PA can support you to claim the benefits you are entitled to. If there are any problems with your benefits we can help you sort these out.
- We will support you to access your Junior ISA and any other savings you may have.
- If you are in full time college and your attendance is over 90%, we will give you of £15 per week. If you are at University this will rise to £20 per week.
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Coaches will be able to support you with benefits, accessing employment and training opportunities.
- You won’t have to pay any council tax until you are 25 years old if you are living in Sandwell. We are working with councils across the West Midlands to see how we can support Care Leavers that live outside of Sandwell, your PA will be able to talk to you about what this means to you.
Help with setting up home
We will provide a leaving care grant of up to £3000. Your PA will help you use this to furnish your new home. It can be used for things like:
- Furniture.
- Washing machine, fridge.
- Television and licence.
- Pots & pans and other kitchen things.
We will tell you about the other people that can help, like local charities who sell used and reconditioned furniture at cheap prices.
We may be able to help you when you move home, you can speak to your PA about this.
Useful Resources and Websites
Contact us if you use a website that you think would fit nicely in here
Metro Bank Helps Care Leavers Become Financially Independent
Metro recognises that care leavers often struggle to produce some of the standard identity and verification documents that banks require when opening an account. This includes a physical form of ID and a verification of this identity e.g. proof of address. Metro have developed a pragmatic, care leaver friendly account opening process. Instead of photo ID Metro branches will accept a letter from a Local Authority confirming the care leaver’s identity. [Read More]
Financial support for young people leaving care
If you’re a care-experienced young person, you may be entitled to financial support.
You might be able to apply for grants to help with your education, training and employment. The council may also give you an allowance for necessities like accommodation, food, transport and clothing.
Depending on your circumstances, here is some financial support you may be entitled to – or can apply for:
Support while accessing Further and Higher Education
The prospect of embarking upon a college or university course can be a daunting one for anybody these days, with the cost of tuition fees and student living rising. For care leavers, who may not have very good experiences of the education system and who will usually lack the support of a family to fall back on, it can be even more intimidating [Read More]