Qualifying young people

What does qualifying mean?

Qualifying is a legal term used to describe a group of young people who have been in our care but do not meet the criteria for being relevant, eligible or former relevant.

Who could be qualifying

There are lots of ways that a person can become qualifying. We have outlined these for you so that you can check if any of these apply to you:

If you were in our care at any age and then a special guardianship order was made so that you could live with these important people, then you are qualifying
If you were in our care for a minimum of 24 hours, but you were not in our care for more than 13 weeks after you were 16, then you are qualifying
If you were in our care and the Order, we cared for you under was discharged and you went to live with your parent(s) or another person with parental responsibility; you would become a qualifying young person after you had been living at home for 6 months.
You were privately fostered
You were cared for by or on behalf of a voluntary organisation
You were cared for in a private children’s home
For a period of three months, you were care for by:

any local health board/special health authority or by a local authority in the exercise of an education function [residential special school] for 3 months with no break in the care provided
a care home or independent hospital or in any accommodation provided by or via NHS England, an integrated care board, National Health trust, NHS foundation trust for a period of 3 months with no breaks
The three months can start prior to the young person’s 16th birthday

You have been on remand either to local authority accommodation or youth detention accommodation and were on remand for more than 24 hours but less than 13 weeks between the ages of 14 and 17

What should I do if I think I might be able to access support as a qualifying young person and I am 16 or 17?

Contact the leaving care team on 01253 478320 and ask to speak to the duty personal advisor or an adolescent service manager. They will take some details from you about your time in our care, or other forms of care as outlined above and will then advise you on next steps.

Remember, if you are 16 or 17 years old and are a qualifying young person, then the local authority who last cared for you is responsible for offering advice and guidance.

However, if you were cared for in a private children’s home, local health board/special health authority, care home, independent hospital or any home provided by the NHS for 3 months with no breaks; the local authority you ask for help and support is responsible for understanding what support you may need – this may not be Blackpool.

What happens next?

The responsible local authority must:

Complete an ‘assessment of need’ – this means that they need to understand what help and support you might need. A member of children’s services will carry out this assessment with you and those who are important to you to get a better understanding of what we can do to support you. You should take part in this assessment to make sure you get the right help or;

If you already have support from children’s services and there is a current assessment (within 6 to 12 months) this assessment may be used to decide what support, you will be offered.

The outcomes of this could be:

You are allocated a personal advisor who will complete a pathway plan with you. A pathway plan is your document and outlines what the local authority will do to support you
You do not need the support via a personal advisor and pathway plan, but will be offered advice, guidance and support to address anything that you are struggling with, this could be with support from a range of professionals
Keeping in touch with you every 2 months to remind of the offer to you as a qualifying young person, where you consent to us doing this
Offering support from Advocacy or the Employee Assistance Programme

If you do not want a service from the leaving care team, you are over the age of 16 and have capacity to make this decision then we will respect your wishes. However, we will write to you every three months to let you know that we are still here if you need us and remind you of this offer until the age of 18.

What should I do if I think I might be able to access support as a qualifying young person and I am 18+

Contact the leaving care team on 01253 478320 and ask to speak to the duty personal advisor or an adolescent Service manager. They will take some details from you about your time in our care, or other forms of care as outlined above and will then advise you on next steps.

Remember, if you are over 18 years old and are a qualifying young person, then the local authority who last cared for you is responsible for offering advice and guidance.

However, if you were cared for in a private children’s home, local health board/special health authority, care home, independent hospital or any home provided by the NHS for 3 months with no breaks; the local authority you ask for help and support is responsible for understanding what support you may need – this may not be Blackpool.

What will happen next?

The local authority must:

Provide or pay for accommodation during university holidays, if you are studying full-time away from home. This can be at any time between the ages of 18 and 24
Offer you advice and guidance where you have asked for this

The local authority can:

Complete an ‘assessment of need’ – this means that they need to understand what help and support you might need. A member of the leaving care team will carry out this assessment with you and those who are important to you to get a better understanding of what we can do to support you. You should take part in this assessment to make sure you get the right help or;