Youngsters need more support, says Labour

‘Real problems’ for young people leaving care

Youngsters who have been in care are struggling to get the support they need after leaving school, says Scottish Labour.

New figures show the number of care experienced young people in positive destinations plummeting nine months after leaving compulsory education.

Across Scotland, the percentage pursuing education, training and employment drops from 72% at the point of leaving school to 57.5% threequarters of a year later, according to Labour analysis of Scottish Government figures from 2015/16.

In Angus, the figure drops from 80.5% to 56.5%, compared with 90.5% to 55.5% in Perth & Kinross.

Dundee and Fife have seen increases of those in positive destinations nine months on from leaving school, of 9% and 8.5% respectively.

Mary Fee, the Labour MSP, said the “huge drop off” in care leavers in a positive destination “should be a cause for concern”.

“We go from almost three-quarters of care leavers in a so-called positive destination to barely over half nine months later, and in some cases these destinations are in reality zero hours jobs with no guaranteed hours or income,” she said.

“That points to real problems in ongoing support for care leavers.”

Labour would guarantee interviews for care experienced young people applying for public authority roles as well as introduce apprenticeship quotas in the sector, Ms Fee said.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Children and young people growing up in care need and deserve a care system that makes things happen for them as well as preventing things happening to them.

“That is why the Children and Young People Act significantly expanded the support available to looked after children and young people and the First Minister launched an independent, root and branch review of the care system, driven by those with experience of care.

“We know that looked after school leavers continue to have lower levels of attainment, but this gap has narrowed since 2009-10 and there was a notable increase in the proportion of looked after school leavers achieving passes at SCQF levels 4-6 in 2017.”