Universal Credit (Standard Allowance Entitlement of Care Leavers) Bill [HL]

Moreover, young care leavers are significantly more likely not to be in education, employment or training compared to the general population. In fact, they are three times more likely: 39% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are what we call NEETs, compared with an estimated 13% of all young people in that age range. That is almost two in every five, compared with a figure of about one in eight.

The benefits system does not currently recognise the specific circumstances that have led a young person to be taken into care or recognise their unique issues that they will face throughout their life. It is vital, for example, that staff at job centres can identify care leavers and are equipped to respond to their particular needs. We have also learned from the conversations we have had that care leavers are three times more likely to be sanctioned in the benefit system than their peers. One young woman, Louise, explained that it was not a simple process. She had to work through pages and pages of information; there was no proper guide and no help if she missed an appointment because of morning sickness during her pregnancy, and job coaches who she was assigned to did not know what a care leaver was.

It is now almost a decade since the Children’s Society produced its research on sanctions for care leavers. Will the Department for Work and Pensions look into whether under-25s who present as care leavers are disproportionately affected by benefit sanctions? Some young care leavers, as a result of sanctions combined with the lower rate, are left with something closer to £200 a month—£50 a week. That cannot be enough to live on. Equalising universal credit is one small thing the state could do to perhaps exercise its extended parental role and put those young care leavers on a path that is a bit closer to that of their peers. The Bill is a way of achieving that.

There was universal agreement among the care leavers who met us last week that the under-25 rate is not sufficient to meet their needs. Many are struggling to pay bills. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust have shown that that reduced rate means that young people are left with about half of what is needed to afford essentials such as food, water and clothing, even though under-25s are the age group at greatest risk of experiencing destitution. Chereece, who met us, noted that care leavers are much more likely to be living independently from a younger age. After gas, electric bills, TV licence and so on, she had about £60 per month—for food. As a result, she was visiting food banks to survive, could not meet up with friends and could barely even travel. Again, when you do not have family behind you, to be able to travel to meet up and maintain such relationships as you have been able to form is really important.

Some local authorities help: there is a discretionary rule that they can exempt care leavers from council tax in those early years, and the majority of local authorities do that. But, of course, they may move to a different authority. We know that many care-experienced young people are in care homes in the poorest parts of the country; if they are going to get a job—and we want them to get jobs—they have to move to somewhere where it is easier to find work. However, the local authority in their new setting is much less likely to grant them exemption from council tax than where they were officially in care. So many whom we spoke to noted that if they just had the extra 21%—the over-25 rate of universal credit—it would have given them stability, avoided debt, and helped with their mental health.

We are not creating a new principle with the Bill. The local housing allowance system already recognises that care leavers are a special case, and they get the one-bedroom rate rather than the lower shared accommodation rate. So the principle that we could treat care leavers as a special case is already there in law; the Bill simply wants to extend it to the universal credit part of the welfare system.

How much will it cost? Barnardo’s and the Children’s Society have estimated that it would cost just under £25 million per year if we considered all care leavers under the age of 25 who are not in employment, education or training. It could be even less than that, because some will be in other households where others are earning. This small investment—it is small in national terms—could have significant human and financial benefits, reducing the risk of poverty, mental ill-health, homelessness and debt. Will the Department for Work and Pensions look at the data it holds on care leavers to assess what the cost would be of raising the standard allowance for this cohort? We are going with the charity figures because those are the only figures that we have.

I note a number of measures contained within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently making its way through the Commons, that would support young care leavers. Perhaps that would be another way of bringing about this change. I would welcome any conversations with noble Lords about introducing such changes when that Bill makes its way to your Lordships’ House.

In conclusion, with targeted support through the social security system as they take their first steps into adulthood, young care leavers would have a basis from which to afford essential goods, maintain contact with their support networks and enter the world of work.

The moral case for making the change is strong. These are young people for whom the state has effectively been the corporate parent, and as the corporate parent the state can support them better into adulthood, in the same way that parents—including me, I declare an interest—have done for our own children, well into adulthood.

I look forward to hearing the speeches of other noble Lords today, not least from those who were in the care system or who have experienced being fostered, formally or informally, as children themselves, and to working with Peers across this House to facilitate this important change. I beg to move.