Weather disruption
Winter weather is causing disruption to services in some parts of the county. Find out what services may be affected in your area.
Your social worker or Personal Adviser will support you to become independent with your money. They can help you to:
- open a bank account
- get your National Insurance number if you don't have one already
- find information about how to access your Junior ISA (a fund of money set aside by the government), if you have one
- find exceptional financial support if you have an emergency
- find out about relevant money management courses
- make sure you have appropriate identification documents (ID)
- apply for PIP (Personal Independence Payments) if you have a disability or health condition that means you're eligible
- apply for bursaries if you're in further or higher education
- access rent and deposit schemes to secure your own home
- buy essential things if you move into your own home from your setting up home grant
- stay in touch with people who are important to you by helping with transport costs
- access financial support if you're an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child (USAC)
- where appropriate, continue to support contact with the Independent Visitor you had while you were in care
- maintain or regain contact with people special to you or who cared for you in the past, like former foster carers or social workers
- maintain or regain contact with members of your family
Find out more about managing your money on our youth link pages.
If you are not sure which group you are, we can help you work that out.
Find information from Coram Voice to help determine if you are a care leaver if you are unsure.
It can be very complicated to know exactly what support you should be getting. We have tried to make things a bit easier for you, by creating these categories:
Group A - relevant care leaver
You are Group A if you:
- are 16 or 17 years old
- were in care on or after your 16th birthday
- were in care for at least 13 weeks since you were 14
- are no longer in care and this happened before you turned 18
Group B - former relevant care leaver
You are Group B if you:
- are over 18
- were in care on or after your 16th birthday
- were in care for at least 13 weeks since you were 14
- were in care when you turned 18
- are under 21
Group C - qualifying care leavers
You are Group C if you:
- are aged between 16-25
- were looked-after by Children’s Services for a period of time between your 16th and 18th birthday
- were not looked-after by Children’s Services for at least 13 weeks, since the age of 14, or if you were, you were not looked-after) for at least 1 day after your 16th birthday
Personal allowance
If you are 16 or 17 and have left care, you'll have a personal allowance from your social worker or Personal Adviser. This personal allowance will be the same as, if not more than the amount you'd get from Universal Credit.
Personal identification (ID)
Your social worker or Personal Adviser will make sure you have a passport before you're 18.
If you lose your ID, we will help with the cost of one form of replacement. You can use your personal allowance too if you need more ID.
Immigration and asylum applications
You can use legal aid in the UK to help you make a claim for asylum. Find out more about this from the Right to Remain Toolkit.
Clothing
If you are 16 or 17 and have left care, your social worker or Personal Adviser will give you a monthly clothing allowance until you are 18.
If you need clothes for college you should use your college bursary to buy them. You can use your monthly allowance if you need clothes for work.
Mobile phone contract
If you are 16 or 17 and have left care we can give you a SIM card to help you stay connected with us while we're supporting you. The SIM card has:
- unlimited calls
- unlimited texts
- up to 10GB of data per month
We do not give money towards contracts you already have, or any that you've set up on your own. If you need a phone, you can budget for this from your personal allowance so that you can buy one.
Learning to drive
We'll tell you about any schemes we know about that help care leavers learn to drive. The Rees Foundation is a provider used by Dorset care leavers in the past.
You can use your personal allowance to pay for your:
- driving lessons
- provisional licence
- theory test
- practical driving test
Leisure and the gym
Find out if you can get discounts for activities and events with the My Max Card.
Stay connected to important people
Talk to your social worker or Personal Adviser to work out how to help you stay connected with the people who are important to you.
Emergency help
Speak to your social worker or Personal Adviser who may help you with a food parcel.
Birthday gifts
If you are 16 or 17 and have left care we'll give you a birthday gift up to and including your eighteenth birthday.
Festival and Christmas gifts
Your social worker or Personal Adviser will send you a card and gift at Christmas or at your chosen festival celebration up until you're 18 years old.
Personal budget
From April 2021 you will have access to a personal budget of up to £700. This £700 is for you to use over 7 years.
If you're already over the age of 18 on 1 April 2021 we will work out your budget based on £100 per year up to the age of 25.
This personal budget can help to pay for:
- payments while you're waiting for any benefits
- clothing
- other accommodation costs
- personal ID
- learning to drive
- hobbies and leisure activities
- keeping in touch with important people
- travelling to work
Personal identification (ID)
Your social worker will make sure you have a passport before you're 18.
If you've lost your ID we will help with the cost of one form of replacement. You can use your personal budget too if you need more ID.
Immigration and asylum applications
You can use legal aid in the UK to help you make a claim for asylum. Find out more about this from the Right to Remain Toolkit.
If you have applied for asylum but have not yet been granted leave to remain in the UK, you'll be given a weekly personal allowance and monthly clothing allowance from your Personal Adviser until your asylum claim has been processed. This personal allowance will be the same as, if not more than the amount you'd get from Universal Credit.
Clothing
You can use your personal budget to buy new clothes. If you need clothes for college you should ask your college bursary to pay for them. If you need clothes for work and you're claiming Universal Credit you can ask your work coach to help you.
Mobile phone contract for care leavers aged between 18 and 21
To help you keep in touch with us we can give you a SIM card while we're supporting you. The SIM card has:
- unlimited calls
- unlimited texts
- up to 10GB of data per month
We do not give you money towards any contracts you've already got or any that you've set up on your own. If you need a phone you can use your personal budget to buy one.
Learning to drive
We'll tell you about any schemes we know about that help care leavers learn to drive. The Rees Foundation is a provider used by Dorset care leavers in the past.
You can use your personal budget to pay for your:
- driving lessons
- provisional licence
- theory test
- practical driving test
Leisure and the gym
You can also use your personal budget to pay for leisure or gym activities.
Find out if you can get discounts for activities and events with the My Max Card.
Stay connected to important people
You can use your personal budget to help you keep in touch with the people who are important to you, like visiting them. We will buy your travel tickets for you.
Emergency help
If you need help with money or food we'll help you get a food bank voucher.
We'll also give you details of how to contact the local assistance fund.
Birthday gifts
Your Personal Adviser will send you a birthday card and gift up until your twenty-first birthday.
Festival and Christmas gifts
Your Personal Adviser will send you a card and gift at Christmas or at your chosen festival celebration up until your twenty-first birthday.
Your income
Depending on your personal situation and if you meet the specific criteria you may be able to claim Universal Credit. We can help you speak with the Jobcentre to see if you can make a claim.
Immigration and asylum applications
You can use legal aid in the UK to help you make a claim for asylum. Find out more about this from the Right to Remain Toolkit.
Clothing
If you need clothes for college you should ask your college bursary to pay for them. If you need clothes for work and you're claiming Universal Credit you can ask your work coach to help you.
Learning to drive
We'll tell you about any schemes we know about that help care leavers learn to drive. The Rees Foundation is a provider used by Dorset care leavers in the past.
Emergency help
If you need help with money or food we'll help you get a food bank voucher.
We'll also give you details of how to contact the local assistance fund.
Having your say
We believe in continuously improving our services, so if you have a comment, compliment or a complaint we would like you to tell us. You can also talk to your personal advisor.
Accessing your Care Records
Specialist Access to Records support is available from the Rees Foundation, to guide and support you when your receive your records, please speak to your Personal Advisor for more information.