By Lucy Caulkett-
Thousands of young people leaving care are to receive greater support as the government launches a £25 million programme designed to ensure that moving into adulthood does not leave them isolated and without anyone to turn to.
The investment, announced by the Department for Education on Tuesday, comes alongside an independent review into the early deaths of care leavers, which warns that too many young people are being pushed towards independence without the relationships and support they need to cope with adult life.
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The government-commissioned review, led by author and broadcaster Ashley John-Baptiste and social work leader Clare Chamberlain, examines the lives and deaths of six young people who died between the ages of 18 and 24. Those who knew them described them as devoted, kind, lively and deeply loved. The review identifies a disturbing contradiction at the centre of their experiences: young people who had already faced disruption and loss in childhood could reach adulthood with nobody close enough to recognise when they were struggling. One of the most striking descriptions in the review is that some young people were effectively “on their own”.
The scale of the problem is reflected in official figures. In 2025, 112 deaths of care leavers aged between 18 and 24 were notified to the Department for Education. The government estimates this represents a mortality rate of 130 deaths per 100,000, around three to four times the rate for other young people of the same age. The figures prompted Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister to commission the review after identifying repeated patterns in reports concerning the early deaths of care leavers.
The review argues that the problem is not simply a lack of housing but the way independence itself is understood. For many young people who grow up outside their birth families, obtaining their own accommodation can appear to be an important symbol of adulthood. But the report warns that independence can come with an unexpected loneliness.
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Research suggests that there are young people who may have a tenancy and a place to live while lacking the trusted relationships that many other young adults take for granted. When difficulties emerge, there may be nobody nearby who knows them well enough to recognise the warning signs or intervene. That finding is at the heart of the government’s new approach. Rather than treating housing as simply a question of providing accommodation, ministers want more care leavers to have homes surrounded by relationships, community and practical support.
The £25 million investment this year will expand the Staying Close programme nationally, supporting housing models similar to Shared Lives Plus, The House Project and Supported Lodgings. The aim is to make it more likely that a young person leaving care can move into a home where support and human connection remain available rather than being placed in accommodation that leaves them alone.
The review identifies three areas that need fundamental change: the way young people are prepared for adulthood, the sharp reduction in support that can occur when they reach 18, and the skills and capacity of the workforce responsible for supporting them. These recommendations challenge a system in which the transition into adulthood can sometimes feel like a sudden withdrawal of support. For young people who have already experienced instability, that change can be particularly difficult.
MacAlister said every one of the young lives examined in the review mattered and that each death represented an enormous loss for families, friends and those who cared for them. He said the care system must make enduring relationships central to its work and argued that care should “build and not break” the relationships young people need.
His comments underline the government’s attempt to redefine what successful care should look like: not simply helping young people become independent, but ensuring they remain connected to people who can support them.
John-Baptiste, who is himself care experienced, said the stories uncovered during the review had been devastating and expressed hope that the report would ensure the young people were remembered as individuals rather than reduced to statistics. Chamberlain similarly warned that the state cannot replace a family and said more must be done to prevent the acute loneliness experienced by some of the most vulnerable young people after leaving care.
The government is also seeking to make care leavers a responsibility across a wider range of public services. Under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, organisations including the NHS, job centres, prisons and probation services will become more directly involved as “corporate parents”. This means they will have to take the needs of care leavers into account when designing and delivering services. The change is intended to prevent responsibility for care-experienced young people from being left solely with children’s services.
Further protections will come into force on 30 September. Councils will be required to publish how they intend to support care leavers into independent living, while a care leaver will no longer be able to be classified as intentionally homeless.
The measures could prove significant for young people who struggle to maintain accommodation after leaving care, particularly as homelessness can quickly compound problems involving employment, education, mental welll being and personal safety.
But the new funding will ultimately be judged not by the size of the announcement but by whether it changes the reality experienced by young people leaving care. The central message of the review is that a home alone is not enough. A front door can provide shelter, but it cannot necessarily provide friendship, guidance or someone who will notice when a young person stops answering the phone. For care leavers, the difference between living independently and being left alone can be profound.
The 112 deaths recorded last year give the government’s programme an urgency that cannot be ignored. The young people whose lives are documented in the review cannot benefit from the changes now being introduced, but their experiences have exposed what ministers and public services must confront.
If the £25 million programme succeeds in putting lasting relationships at the centre of housing and leaving-care support, it could mark a significant change in how Britain approaches the transition from care to adulthood. The real measure of success, however, will be whether fewer young people face that transition feeling that they are, once again, on their own.
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