Where you live

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

Moving into your new home

When you're ready to move to your own home we will help you to set it up with a grant from us of up to £3,000. You can spend this money up until the age of 25. This money could pay for items such as:

• luggage and moving boxes
• towels
• bedding
• bed and mattress
• kitchen items
• furniture
• fridge freezer
• first year's TV licence
• first year's household insurance

We will also consider carpets for your lounge and bedroom if you have a long-term local authority home and you'll be using your grant for this. There are often charities that can help too, for example:

• Capstone Care Leavers Trust
• Rees Foundation
• local charities
• Dorset Poverty Action

New home parcel

We will provide you with a box of essentials for your new home.

This will include:

• items to keep your home clean
• some kitchen cupboard basics like salt, pepper and sauces
• a cookbook
• a £10 food voucher

We'll also make sure you have the essentials for yourself like:

• shampoo
• shower gel
• toothpaste
• toilet roll

Help with storing your personal belongings

We've got short term storage units in Dorchester that you can use if you need to store belongings for up to 3 months.

If you need to store your items somewhere else, you need to use your personal allowance to pay for this.

Securing your home with deposit and rent in advance

If we agree your chosen privately rented home is affordable for you, we'll help you with: 

• up to 4 weeks' rent (one month) in advance
• a deposit
• any fees

We'll only do this once. 

There may be other help available from deposit, bond and rent in advance schemes, or through a discretionary housing payment.

Your rent

Dorset Children's Services will pay your rent up until your eighteenth birthday If you:

• are 16 or 17 years old
• have left care
• are living in semi-independent, or independent accommodation

If you're living with family or friends we may be able to contribute towards your living costs. You may have to pay a service charge for the place where you live and you'll need to buy your own food.

We want to make sure that where you live is affordable.

We encourage you to consider properties priced within the local housing allowance rates as these properties would still be affordable if you had to claim Universal Credit for any reason.

Maintaining your home

Your social worker or Personal Adviser will give you advice about renting successfully, including:

• holding down a tenancy
• how to avoid getting behind in your rent or Council Tax payments
• paying for bills and budgeting

Find housing-related support and guidance

Moving into your new home

We will help you to set up your own home with a grant from us of up to £3,000. You can spend this money up until the age of 25. This money could pay for items such as:

• luggage and moving boxes
• towels
• bedding
• bed and mattress
• kitchen items
• furniture
• fridge freezer
• first year's TV licence
• first year's household insurance

We will also consider carpets for your lounge and bedroom if you have a long-term local authority home and you'll be using your grant for this. There are often charities that can help too:

• Capstone Care Leavers Trust
• Rees Foundation
• local charities
• Dorset Poverty Action

New home parcel

We will provide you with a box of essentials for your new home.

This will include:

• items to keep your home clean
• some kitchen cupboard basics like salt, pepper and sauces
• a cookbook
• a £10 food voucher

We'll also make sure you have the essentials for yourself like:

• shampoo
• shower gel
• toothpaste
• toilet roll

Help with storing your personal belongings

We've got short term storage units in Dorchester that you can use if you need to store belongings for up to 3 months.

If you need to store your items somewhere else you need to use your personal budget to pay for this.

Securing your home with deposit and rent in advance

If we agree your chosen privately rented home is affordable for you, we'll help you with: 

• up to 4 weeks' rent (one month) in advance
• a deposit
• any fees

We'll only do this once. 

There may be other help available from deposit, bond and rent in advance schemes, or through a discretionary housing payment.

Your rent

You will pay your rent from:

• working
• being in an apprenticeship
• using your student finance if you are at university
• or from a Universal Credit claim if none of these apply

We cannot help you with paying your rent. We want to make sure that where you live is affordable. To do this we will go through with you how much you're earning and the cost of the property to make sure you can afford to pay your rent.

We encourage you to consider properties priced within the local housing allowance rates as these properties would still be affordable if you had to claim Universal Credit for any reason.

Maintaining your home

Your Personal Adviser will give you advice about renting successfully, including:

• holding down a tenancy
• how to avoid getting behind in your rent or Council Tax payments
• paying for bills and budgeting

Find housing-related support and guidance.

Council Tax

You must pay Council Tax unless you're in education or training which are counted as disregarded.

From April 2020, Dorset Council care leavers who are living on their own and in Dorset can apply for full Council Tax exemption. Full Council Tax exemption means you do not have to pay it until you are 25 years old.

If you're a Dorset care leaver living in Dorset with someone else and not on your own, then your Council Tax bill will be reduced by 25%.

If you live out of Dorset you should make a claim to the council in the area that you live to see if they help care leavers.

Securing your home with deposit and rent in advance

You may be able to get help from deposit, bond and rent in advance schemes, or through a discretionary housing payment.

Your rent

You will pay your rent from:

• working
• being in an apprenticeship
• using your student finance if you are at university
• or from a Universal Credit claim if none of these apply

We cannot help you with paying your rent. We want to make sure that where you live is affordable. To do this we will go through with you how much you're earning and the cost of the property to make sure you can afford to pay your rent.

We encourage you to consider properties priced within the local housing allowance rates as these properties would still be affordable if you had to claim Universal Credit for any reason.

Maintaining your home

Local services can give you housing-related support and guidance.

They can give you advice about renting successfully, including:

• holding down a tenancy
• how to avoid getting behind in your rent or Council Tax payments
• paying for bills and budgeting

Council Tax

You must pay Council Tax unless you're in education or training which are counted as disregarded.

If you're a Dorset Council care leaver and you live on your own in Dorset you can apply for full Council Tax exemption. This means you do not have to pay Council Tax until you are 25 years old.

If all of this applies to you but you live with someone else and not on your own then your Council Tax bill will be reduced by 25%.

If you live outside Dorset you should make a claim to the council in the area that you live in and ask them if they help care leavers with paying their Council Tax.