Harrow Council has revamped its local offer for care leavers, aiming to provide clearer, more accessible, and meaningful support. The updated offer, developed in collaboration with care-experienced young people and informed by Ofsted findings, now includes specific sections for care leavers who are parents and those leaving custody.
The refreshed Local Offer has been rewritten using young person-friendly language, shorter sentences, and clear headings. It aims to improve young people's understanding of their rights and entitlements, increase engagement with services, and support smoother transitions to independence. The revisions were informed by learning from the OFSTED inspection of children's services,
which highlighted the importance of Ensuring care leavers clearly understand their entitlements, Making information accessible and relevant to young people, Demonstrating how corporate parenting responsibilities translate into real-world support, Strengthening the consistency of support across services.
Key improvements include the addition of video clips explaining each section, easy-read versions, and translations into alternative languages. The council is also consulting young people on whether to rename the 'Local Offer' to something more familiar to them, with terms like alumni
being considered.
Specific support for care leavers who are parents is now clearly outlined, detailing what our offer to those young people are as their corporate parents.
Similarly, a dedicated section addresses the needs of care leavers in custody or leaving custody,
ensuring they receive appropriate support. The Care Leavers' Local Offer
document itself details specific rights and entitlements for young people aged 18-25, including the right to a social worker, an independent reviewing officer, involvement in decisions made about them, access to independent advocacy, and the ability to request access to their social care records. They are also entitled to a Personal Advisor for support and guidance, a regularly reviewed Pathway Plan covering housing, education, health, finances, and relationships, and clear information on complaints, advocacy, and accessing their files.
Mechanisms are in place to actively reach out to and inform care leavers about the updated offer, including relaunching and sharing it with all care leavers, embedding its use across services and partner agencies, and launching it with foster carers, residential homes, and supported accommodation providers to ensure access from age 16. Future plans include developing short videos for each section, easy-read and booklet versions, and translations into other languages. The council also commits to sending regular reminders and staying in touch to offer support.
Samantha Jeffery, Head of Service for Corporate Parenting, highlighted the extensive work that has gone into the update, emphasizing it as a co-produced effort. Councillor Hitesh Karia, Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel, expressed pride in the team's work, noting that the offer is generous compared to surrounding authorities, with the main challenge being ensuring those who need support can access it. The report Public reports pack Monday 29-Jun-2026 18.00 Corporate Parenting Panel
Public reports pack Monday 29-Jun-2026 18.00 Corporate Parenting Panel details these improvements and discussions.
