We believe it is important that your voice is heard and influences the service we provide for our care leavers.
You will always be offered the chance to be involved in your pathway plan, as this is all about you.
You are always welcome at The Hub where we have a young persons room. At The Hub, we also run our care leavers groups ‘Connected Family’. The group get together weekly to spend social time together and contribute to shaping of the care leavers service.
You don’t need to come along to Connected Family groups to participate in shaping the services you receive, and we will always try to ensure all care leavers have the opportunity to have their views and opinions heard.
Advocacy
An advocate can support you when you need somebody to speak on your behalf and help you express your views, wishes and feelings.
- Your PA can make a referral for you, or you can contact them directly on 01942 867 888
How Wigan Council supports you as your corporate parent
As your corporate parent, every part of Wigan Council has a responsibility to help you thrive and reach your goals. Supporting care leavers is not just the job of the Leaving Care team. All Wigan Council services work together to help you access the same opportunities that any parent would want for their child.
We are committed to listening to your views, helping you access services, removing barriers where we can, and making sure your care experience does not stop you achieving your ambition.
Corporate Parenting Board - checks to see how we are doing
The corporate parenting board is responsible for ensuring the services that we provide to you as care experienced young people and care leavers are of a high standard. The Board includes representatives from council services and partner organisations who work together to improve outcomes for care leavers. We use your feedback to help shape services and improve support. Care leavers regularly have the opportunity to attend corporate parenting board to input your views on the topics being discussed.
We regularly review how well services are supporting care leavers through the Corporate Parenting Board. This includes listening to feedback from care experienced young people, reviewing how we are doing and identifying where changes are needed.
Wigan Council's Corporate Parenting Strategy sets out the vision and plans for fulfilling our key responsibilities and ambitions to all of our children in care as well as our care leavers. You can find it on our Corporate Parenting webpage.
Each year we review our Local Offer to make sure it remains up to date and reflects what care leavers tell us they need. Care experienced young people are involved in reviewing the Local Offer through participation groups, consultation events, surveys and feedback received throughout the year.
You said:
We want somewhere safe and welcoming to meet.
We need more help when looking for accommodation.
We want our voices to be heard.
We want help with guarantors and deposits for housing.
We did:
- We developed the Care Leavers Hub and expanded activities and support available there
- We strengthened housing support and developed the Tenancy Support Offer and tenancy training
- We support connected family members to influence services and attend decision-making forums
- Through the Private Renting Assistance Scheme, additional support can be provided to help meet the costs of up-front rent (when required for a private rented tenancy)
National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum (NCLBMF)
We are part of the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum, often shortened to NCLBMF. This forum is attended by different local authorities who support each other to develop services and there are often opportunities for care leavers to be a part of consultations and events.