What is the Care Leaver Covenant?
The Covenant is a promise made by private, public or voluntary organisations to provide support for care leavers aged 16-25 to help them to live independently.
In July 2016, the Government published ‘Keep on Caring’ to support care experienced young people from care to independence. A key policy commitment in the paper is a strategic pledge to introduce a Care Leaver Covenant.
All young people who leave care at 16, 17 or 18 are provided with statutory support, in the form of a Local Offer. This should include help in the transition to living independently; support with finding accommodation and with any costs of participating in education, training and employment.
However, in order to provide a greater level of support at this crucial stage during the transition of care leavers to adulthood, wider society also needs to play a part, which is where the Care Leaver Covenant comes in.
Businesses, organisations, shops and charities amongst others from around the UK have signed the Care Leavers Covenant and submitted their ‘promise’ of what they will offer to care experienced young people
What is Barnardo's offer?
As the largest UK’s largest children’s charity, we support hundreds of thousands of children, young people and families across the UK through our network of localised services and we also have a retail department with over 600 shops.
To help young people who have left care get more value for their money, we are offering a 20% reduction on all personal and household items purchased at any of our retail stores nationwide. If you are a care leaver, or a professional working with a care experienced young person, they can receive their discount at any of our retail stores, by quoting: BRCL20 at the till.
How can I find out what other offers are available?
The Care Leavers Covenant have an app you can download with all of the available offers from jobs, courses to free stuff. You can access the website at https://mycovenant.org.uk/ or go to your app store and download “Care Leavers Covenant” it is always being updated so keep checking!