Care leavers | Managing your money

Bank account

It is important that you have a bank account and you know how this works. If you don’t have a bank account we will support you to set one up.

National insurance number

We will apply for a national insurance number for you. When you have your national insurance number it is really important that you look after this information and keep it safe.

Benefit claims

Benefits can be made before your 18^th birthday. Your personal advisor will attend the first meeting where the contract of expectations is drawn up and you are provided with your journal.

We have a direct link with the Job Centre Plus and an agreement that they will work with us to ensure a clearer process for care leavers. When you make your first claim you will need to tell them you are a care leaver to make this happen.

Setting up home allowance

The setting up home allowance is all about helping you set up home. The maximum of this allowance has been increased to £2,000. This money can be used for the first month’s rent and your first television licence. The other kind of things you will need to buy are:

cooking equipment
bedding
window covering
a television
furniture

We will plan with you how this money will be spent so you can get the best value for money.

Young people told us they did not like using council order forms to buy their goods because there is limited choice and the order form identifies them as requiring council support. As a result personal advisors will have access to other payment methods.

We will also give you one mobile smart phone so you can keep in touch with all your important links.

It is important you work with your leaving care worker about how you will spend this allowance. They have lots of experience in how to make your money go further.

Discretionary allowances

A discretionary allowance is another way for us to give you some extra money when you need it. We do not have to do this by law, but we usually give you this allowance for:

Birthdays: £40 for all in independence. This will stop at the age of 21.
Christmas or festival: £50 to be paid in December or goods to the value depending on your situation. This also stops at the age of 21.

Mobile phones

We will provide you with one mobile phone if you do not have one. If we are not able to provide you with one, we will provide you with £100 to cover the cost of one, or to be put towards the cost of one.

Budgeting

To live independently it is really important that you understand how money works and we can help you with this. From an early age we encourage carers to help you learn about budgeting. If you need any extra help, just ask.

Useful resources:

Ask for help

If you can’t find the help you need in our local offer or you just need some more information then you can get in touch using our Care Leavers support request form .

Contact details

Children in care and new futures team, Civic Offices, Knoll Street, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, DN358LN

Telephone: 01472 325232

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