The Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May 2025 that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle. This also included a clear pathway for those children in care without status.

In light of this commitment, we are considering the specific position of migrant children in care who reach adulthood without having secured immigration status and the support currently available to help them regularise their status. We are considering appropriate safeguards for these children, through our ‘children in care’ policy, recognising that many of these children may have been unaware of their unlawful status.

A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a pathway to settlement for children in care without status must be considered alongside these changes.

No formal consultation will take place. Instead, we will undertake targeted engagement with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system.

Any changes for this cohort will complement the existing work already undertaken by our Public Protection Specialist Safeguarding Team in relation to nationality issues.

The Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May 2025 that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle. This also included a clear pathway for those children in care without status.

In light of this commitment, we are considering the specific position of migrant children in care who reach adulthood without having secured immigration status and the support currently available to help them regularise their status. We are considering appropriate safeguards for these children, through our ‘children in care’ policy, recognising that many of these children may have been unaware of their unlawful status.

A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a pathway to settlement for children in care without status must be considered alongside these changes.

No formal consultation will take place. Instead, we will undertake targeted engagement with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system.

Any changes for this cohort will complement the existing work already undertaken by our Public Protection Specialist Safeguarding Team in relation to nationality issues.

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation behind. We are investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn. Under the Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16–24, including care leavers, can access tailored support to enter work, education or training.

The Department recognises the challenges care leavers face as they move out of the care system and is committed to supporting them into employment. We work in close partnership with the Department for Education and other stakeholders to ensure care leavers can access the right skills, opportunities and wider support to move towards sustained employment and career progression.

Care leavers receiving Universal Credit also benefit from personalised support through Jobcentre Plus, including access to Youth Employability Coaches who provide intensive support to address complex barriers, alongside support delivered through Youth Hubs in partnership with local services.

The Department is also improving opportunities for care leavers through targeted recruitment schemes such as the Civil Service Care Leaver Internship, the Social Mobility Apprenticeship Scheme and our partnership with Movement to Work, all of which are designed to support disadvantaged young people into employment.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

Care leavers often face major challenges in securing and maintaining safe, affordable housing. To address this, funding for stable accommodation will continue in 2026/27. This includes support for the Staying Put programme, allowing young people to remain with foster families until age 21. Local authorities will also receive £21.1 million for the Staying Close programme, which provides practical and emotional help, including support to find and sustain accommodation, alongside an additional £3.2 million for those most at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping. Care leavers are further supported by a recommended minimum £3,000 Leaving Care Allowance to help furnish their first home.

Under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, Staying Close will become a national entitlement for eligible care leavers up to age 25. Local authorities will also be required to publish their local offer outlining how they will meet housing needs, work with housing services, and prevent homelessness among care leavers.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that all care leavers are entitled to the same standard Universal Credit allowance.

It is very important that we do not weaken the incentives for care leavers to start work and to progress once they are in work. At the moment, 40% of young care leavers are not in employment, education or training. That is a horrific statistic, so our response is to provide tailored Jobcentre Plus support. We also have the new youth jobs grant of £3,000, which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has referred to, which will be available from tomorrow. Care leavers under the age of 25 are eligible for the one-bedroom local housing allowance rate, rather than the shared accommodation rate, so there is a financial benefit there, but our focus is rightly on support into work.

This Government are rightly committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, but care leavers still face disproportionate challenges as they move into independent adulthood. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the universal credit age-related rates for care leavers, with a view to ensuring that all 18 to 24-year-old care leavers receive the same rate of UC as those aged 25 and over?

I would be delighted to have that conversation. I speak regularly to the Minister in Northern Ireland about matters in my portfolio, and I would be happy to cover this matter in our next conversation.

I thank the Minister very much for his answers, as always. In Northern Ireland, care leavers are really untold heroes in the work that they do. Many of us, in all our communities, understand the delivery of care that is provided. In relation to young people, has the Minister had an opportunity to talk to the relevant Minister in Northern Ireland to ensure that we can move forward with the speed that he seems to indicate? I understand that there are 19,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 in Northern Ireland without any employment, so there may be an opportunity here to do better.

We have been reminded already this afternoon of the experiences of Fatima Whitbread. Work is under way across Government to give care leavers access to the skills and wider support for sustained employment and career progression. Lower universal credit rates for younger claimants strengthen work incentives and encourage increased earnings over time.

If the care leavers are PIP recipients —I think that is probably the case in the example my hon. Friend has given—we are certainly considering that point. If this issue is one that she thinks we need to reflect on in the review, I would be keen to hear about such experiences.

One of my constituents is a former care leaver who is facing immense health conditions and he can no longer work. Given the lack of family and social support that many care leavers experience, they are uniquely vulnerable to financial insecurity. Can the Minister confirm that the experiences of care leavers are being considered as part of the Timms review?

We recently published the Enduring Relationships Strategy, which explains why enduring relationships matter; how we are going to change the care and leaving care systems to prioritise them; and how we will work with the sector to ensure they become the golden thread that runs through every child’s life.

The strategy will align our national care reforms to focus practice on enduring relationships; create homes for enduring relationships; support the transition to early adulthood and ensure that inspection and accountability guide the system towards prioritising enduring relationships.

The strategy is not asking local authorities to do more, but to work differently and use existing resources more effectively to keep children connected to the people who matter most. In addition, we have announced a national sprint to roll-out Family Finding services, which support children and young people in care to reconnect with loved ones.

The strategy sets out the government's strategy for ensuring that all children who experience care maintain and build the enduring relationships that will support them through life. Enduring relationships provide children with emotional security, trust and warmth through consistent and dependable connections.

As set out in the strategy, research shows that stable, high-quality relationships can shield vulnerable young people from physical, social and psychological risks while significantly improving their long-term economic and educational chances of success. Enduring relationships foster the resilience and competence required for vulnerable young people to transition successfully into adulthood. Crucially, continuity in stable and dependable support is key to sustaining wellbeing and protecting against the negative consequences of unstable or short-lived relationships.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that local planning authorities should assess the size, type, and tenure of housing needed for different groups, and should reflect this in their planning policies and decisions.

I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 88432 on 17 November 2025.

All eligible care leavers, regardless of age or personal circumstances, who are attending undergraduate higher education courses in the 2026/27 academic year, will be eligible for the maximum loan for living costs, removing key barriers to accessing education.

This reform is central to the government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring, that everyone, regardless of their background, has the chance to get on in life.

Supporting disadvantaged and underrepresented students in higher education remains a key government priority. To this end, through the Strategic Priorities Grant £253 million has been allocated to eligible providers in the current academic year 2025/26 to support successful student outcomes: full-time and part-time; the disabled students ’premium; and mental health premium.

The Department of Health is progressing work to operationalise the extension of free National Health Service prescriptions, dental treatment and eye care services for care leavers up to 25 years old. We will ensure that clear information is provided on the arrangements, including the process for validating care leaver status.

The department knows care leavers have some of the worst long-term life outcomes in society. We are determined to address this so that all care leavers have support to build enduring relationships and stable homes.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, we will roll out the Staying Close programme to support care leavers up to the age of 25; require each local authority to publish information about its arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood; change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless; and introduce new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies.

The government collects national data on care leavers through the Children Looked After in England including adoptions dataset. This is published annually, and provides information on accommodation, education, training and employment and is used to monitor outcomes and inform policy development and the targeting of support for children and young people leaving care nationally.