PARTNERSHIPS – THE NEXT STAGE:
SALFORD CAN (COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK)
Developing a local model of partnership, working to address HE and FE’s corporate and community engagement responsibilities around Looked After Young People (LAYP) and Care Leavers
Salford CAN
Arron Pile – University of Salford, Student & Graduate Diversity Officer 0161 295 2152; ([email protected])
Jonathan Fairclough – Chair of Salford CAN & Social Work student at the University of Salford ([email protected]
Lynsey Merrick – The Lowry Arts Centre, Participation & Learning Manager 0161 876 2039; [email protected]
Emma Curran – Board member of Salford CAN & Nursing student at the University of Salford ([email protected])
By the end of we will…
Inform you about one local model, Salford CAN – how it works, its objectives and its plans for the future
Get you thinking about how to set up a similar model in your local area if appropriate
Discuss advantages and barriers to working with multiple organisations in the context of raising LAYP and care leaver aspirations
Discuss the importance of local universities taking the lead in such partnerships
Workshop structure
The national & local context of supporting LAYP and care leavers via local multi-agency partnerships, including corporate and community engagement responsibilities
An overview of Salford CAN Group discussion Importance of engaging with young people Delivery plans The future of Salford CAN Any questions
The national context
65,520 children were looked after at 31 March 2011, an increase of two per cent on 2010 and the highest number since 1987 (Direct.gov 2012)
Proportion of care leavers nationally not in education, employment or training has increased from 32 per cent in 2010 to 33 per cent in 2011. (Direct.gov 2012)
Buttle UK, Care Leavers Association, Shelter, UCAS, NCAS, Catch 22 etc operating with a presence at a local level
National measures to measure LAYP & care leavers in education, training and employment
Local organisations are encouraged to accept corporate responsibility via national strategy
The local context 360 LAYP in the care of the City of Salford Approx 200 of these children are being educated in
Salford Schools: 160 of these children are out of authority and are likely to remain out of authority upon leaving care
Of last years (2011) 173 care leavers: 79 in college, 14 in university, 23 in employment, 9 in apprenticeships
48 NEET care leavers leaving care in 2011 Salford has one of 3 virtual schools teams in the UK
which introduces a multi-agency approach towards LAYP This multi-agency approach is maintained as LAYP leave
care as key organisations within the city accept corporate responsibility and ‘buy in’ to a collaborative approach
Partners in Salford CAN
Salford CAN – how it began…
University has a commitment to support its diverse student population and community.
iCAN uCAN conference (February 2011), worked with NCAS on an employability conference. 80 care leavers across the North West attended
Salford University and Salford City Council - decision to work in partnership to improve the opportunities of care leavers in employment and education
Local employer partners, education partners, Job Centre Plus, The Lowry and most importantly – care leavers were invited to join the board.
We recruited two care leavers who are now instrumental to the project, one of which is Chair. It is essential that care leavers are involved in the decision-making and strategy of the group.
Clear this was a project that could genuinely make a difference to LAYP and care leavers in Salford.
Salford CAN – Terms of Reference
“The members of the board will work together to tackle social exclusion and raise aspirations by agreeing
and delivering opportunities to support the employability and
education of care leavers”(extract)
Salford CAN - organisation
Agreed, that we should take advantage of the skills of key partners in their specialised fields by setting up two strategic sub boards – employability and education (all board members sit on one or the other)
This allows us to drive our duel focuses forward more efficiently.
Sub groups are user led, and our care leavers are fully involved in the decision-making process.
The sub-groups meet bi-monthly to develop delivery plans and to ensure plans are delivered on time; sub groups feed back their progress to the main board at our quarterly strategic board meetings
Salford CAN – achievements so far
Resolute as a board that our future agenda would be driven by the needs and wishes of Salford’s young people.
Care leaver board members designed the survey that was distributed across our partnerships in Salford.
Expanded our network; gaining committed partners from Further Education, Connexions, Children’s Rights Services , employers and additional partners over the year.
We have grown from a formative group to a group with clear delivery plans, identifying key projects we hope to implement to improve opportunities for Salford’s Looked After Young People and those who have left care.
University gained the Buttle UK Quality Mark in Feb 2011, and for a further two years this year. Salford CAN embedded into this. The Vice-Chancellor has also taken a keen interest in what Salford CAN hopes to achieve.
Breakout session
Each group to discuss the question written on the flipchart…
1. Identify the barriers in starting up a local partnership in your area modelled on Salford CAN?
2. Identify the benefits in starting up a local partnership in your area modelled on Salford CAN?
3. How would extending corporate responsibility and community engagement activities to LAYP and care leavers in your local area benefit your organisation?
4. Identify the types of organisations and key partners that you could work within your local community to raise aspirations of LAYP and care leavers into both education and employability
Group Discussion
Each group to present the main issues brought up in your group
discussion
Getting the views of young people
Priority was to ensure that projects developed by Salford CAN were developed from what LAYP and care leavers in Salford wanted.
Short survey was developed for LAYP and care leavers 15 - 25 years old to understand their education and employment aspirations. 93 responses. What are you doing at the moment? What do you want to do in the future? Do you work (FT or PT)? If so what do you do and do you
enjoy it? What would your top 3 jobs be? Would you be interested in apprenticeships? What sort of advice and guidance would you need to fulfil
your potential?
Key findings from surveyGeneral Uneven support – those that live independently require most
support Higher number of females are NEET (one third), most between
17-20
Education More males attend college and more females university College attendees are all between 17-20 – older than usual 50% had thought about college; 25% about university, but
current participation doesn’t reflect this. 80% suggested they would like to do more education Those in education, over half wanted help finding a job
Employability Only 3.3% worked full time, most enjoyed it. All 20+ not looking for work; 50% of 18 years olds were job
seekers Four times the number of young people were interested in
doing an apprenticeship than were actually doing them Over half of NEET care leavers wanted help finding a job
Salford CAN Delivery Plans
Employability:1. Pilot a project aimed at school aged LAYP to promote
apprenticeships and vocational training2. Pilot a project aimed at NEET 17-20 year olds aimed
at giving them extra support and mentoring in finding employment
3. Pilot a project aimed at university students to provide them with graduate skills
Education4. Pilot a project aimed at sustainable long term
mentoring from school to graduation and beyond5. Pilot an aspiration raising project based on a tier 4
level module at university with UCAS credits attached
The future for Salford CAN
Vision or dream is simply to raise LAYP and care leaver aspirations and in turn increase the percentage of care leavers reaching college/university and/or employment within Salford.
Care leaver/ LAYP led. Work with partners to deliver a three year
action based delivery plan. Strengthening partnerships between
businesses and institutions Long term benefits locally
Any Questions?
For more information please contact Arron Pile Tel: 0161 295 2152 Email: [email protected]
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