Education, Training and Employment
As part of Devon’s Local Offer to Care Leavers, we’ll help you to get the most from education, employment and training opportunities so that you can achieve your goals in life and have the best possible future.
Please read our What is the Local Offer? page before exploring the Local Offer below.
If you don’t know what some of the terms used on this page mean, please check out our handy list of definitions and explanations.
Talented Me guarantees
- We will give you time with a specialist Education Training and Employment Persons Advisor to help plan your pathway.
- We will contribute towards your first tools for a trade.
- We will contribute towards your first work outfit or uniform, so you are job ready.
- We will ensure that you have a smart outfit if you are going for interviews.
- We will support you to travel to and from work until you start to get paid so that you don’t struggle when you start to work.
- We will celebrate your successes with a financial gift when you complete a course (and sit the relevant exam if applicable).
- If you are 16 or 17 and in Further Education, and are living in supported accommodation, we will help you financially with a personal allowance of £71.73/week.
- We will support you with £100 per academic year towards books or essential items if you are in further education.
- We will help you to claim all bursaries that are available to you and complete forms and applications for further or higher education as these can be complicated.
- If you are at university, we will support you with a £2000 bursary over the course of your degree.
- If you are at university, we will provide you with £60 a week to support your living expenses.
- If you are at university and living away from carers or home, we will visit you each term and support you with a food shop up to £150 and, if you’d like to, we will also take you out for lunch.
- If you are studying at university outside of Devon and away from your carers or home, then we will support you with transport costs at the start and end of each term.
- If you are studying at university outside of Devon and away from your carers or home, then we will contribute to your accommodation cost support during your university vacation time if you need this.
- We will do all we can do to provide you with support to become work ready through work experience across our Devon Corporate Parenting Partnership.
- We will take a favoured approach to employing care leavers in roles in Devon County Council (please see main text under Family Firm).
- We will use our Talent and Aspirations Bank to try to match you to employment and work experience opportunities across the Corporate Parenting Partnership.
Our full Talented Me offer
Your Social Worker, Personal Advisor and our specialist Employment, Training and Education PAs (ETE PAs) will all help contribute to this area of your Pathway Plan as needed.
An ETE PA specialises in Education Training and Employment. This means that they will work with you for short periods of time if you need support or advice in this area of your life. They are not there to replace your existing PA; they are there to help to provide a bit more focus to what can be a complicated part of life to manage! Together, you and your ETE PA will work with you to understand your aspirations and ambitions and help you get to where you want to be in respect of education, training and employment. They will also support your educators, for example your college, or any trainers and employers to help you in whatever environment you are in.
We want you to do well and be able to succeed in life, we will be aspirational for you and will challenge you to be the same. This is because we know that helping you engage in education, employment and training will give the strongest life chances for you and any future family and dependants you may have.
Financial Support with Education, employment, and training costs
Because helping you into Education, Employment or Training is so important to your future success, we will help you to access various financial supports to ensure that you are able to achieve your goals.
We want to celebrate any educational successes that you achieve. So, when you complete certain courses or exams, we will celebrate your achievements of doing this by making a one-off payment to you. This will be regardless of the grade that you achieve.
These payments are as follows:
We want to celebrate any educational successes that you achieve. So, when you complete certain courses or exams, we will celebrate your achievements of doing this by making a one-off payment to you. This will be regardless of the grade that you achieve.
These payments are as follows:
| Course | Number Undertaken | One-off Payment |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE/A Levels | 1-2 | £15 |
| GCSE/A Levels | 3-5 | £25 |
| GCSE/A Levels | 6+ | £50 |
| Apprenticeship | n/a | £25 |
| Functional Skills | 2 | £50 each |
| Degree | n/a | £50 |
There is a 16-19 Bursary that young people can claim to support their Further Education. This is up to £1,200/year and is generally paid through your educational institution. Your Social worker or PA will be able to help you to access your entitlements and will support you to fill in the relevant forms if needed.
There are also other bursaries that you can claim to support things like travel and books or specialist equipment that you may need. Again, we will help you to understand your entitlements and claim them.
If you can’t access support with your travel costs through your educational provider, then don’t worry. We will support you with reasonable costs as your education and training is important to us too.
If you are 16 or 17 and still living in a fostering household or children’s home, then your carers will support you with your day to day living needs.
However, if you are still in care and living in supported accommodation then we will provide you with a weekly personal allowance of £71.73.
From the age of 18, if you are in Further Education, you can claim universal credit to support you financially up until the end of the academic year of your 21st birthday. Your PA can help you to do this so that you have financial support whilst in Further Education if you fit into this age group.
We will also pay an allowance of up to £100 per academic year towards the cost of books, equipment, and essential clothing for the course if you are attending education or training.
We will also contribute towards your first tools for a trade or uniform costs if this is needed for a course.
There are also other bursaries that you can claim to support things like travel and books or specialist equipment that you may need. Again, we will help you to understand your entitlements and claim them.
If you can’t access support with your travel costs through your educational provider, then don’t worry. We will support you with reasonable costs as your education and training is important to us too.
If you are 16 or 17 and still living in a fostering household or children’s home, then your carers will support you with your day to day living needs.
However, if you are still in care and living in supported accommodation then we will provide you with a weekly personal allowance of £71.73.
From the age of 18, if you are in Further Education, you can claim universal credit to support you financially up until the end of the academic year of your 21st birthday. Your PA can help you to do this so that you have financial support whilst in Further Education if you fit into this age group.
We will also pay an allowance of up to £100 per academic year towards the cost of books, equipment, and essential clothing for the course if you are attending education or training.
We will also contribute towards your first tools for a trade or uniform costs if this is needed for a course.
If you are in Higher Education, we will provide you with a Higher Education Bursary of £2000. This will be provided in instalments across the duration of your course.
We will also provide you with £60/week towards your living expenses if you started your course before you turned 21 years of age.
If you are living independently at university, your PA will visit you. Once per term, they will take you to complete a food shop of up to £150. They will also take you out for lunch if you would like to go.
We will help fund your travel to and from university at the start and end of term.
We will also help you to find accommodation during the university holidays and will support the cost of this at local housing benefit rates.
We will help you to apply for your maximum entitlement from Student Finance for your tuition fees and your maintenance loan. To find out more information on student finance entitlements, you can go to the gov.uk website
Lots of universities also offer their own bursaries directly to care leavers. If you are unsure whether your choice of university does this you can call them, or your PA can help you to do this. Propel is a helpful website for care leavers who are planning to go to university.
We will also provide you with £60/week towards your living expenses if you started your course before you turned 21 years of age.
If you are living independently at university, your PA will visit you. Once per term, they will take you to complete a food shop of up to £150. They will also take you out for lunch if you would like to go.
We will help fund your travel to and from university at the start and end of term.
We will also help you to find accommodation during the university holidays and will support the cost of this at local housing benefit rates.
We will help you to apply for your maximum entitlement from Student Finance for your tuition fees and your maintenance loan. To find out more information on student finance entitlements, you can go to the gov.uk website
Lots of universities also offer their own bursaries directly to care leavers. If you are unsure whether your choice of university does this you can call them, or your PA can help you to do this. Propel is a helpful website for care leavers who are planning to go to university.
Work Based Training, Work Experience, Apprenticeships and Employment
When you are seeking employment and going for interviews, we will ensure that you have an outfit to look the part for your interview.
We will also contribute towards your first tools for a trade or uniform costs if this is needed to help you start a role.
If you need support with travel to work, and subsistence (lunch etc) for your first month of your job (or until you start to be paid and can then manage) then please talk to us and we will help you.
We also know that some service charges in supported accommodation can be costly when you first start to work. Talk to us if this is something that you are worried about.
We will also contribute towards your first tools for a trade or uniform costs if this is needed to help you start a role.
If you need support with travel to work, and subsistence (lunch etc) for your first month of your job (or until you start to be paid and can then manage) then please talk to us and we will help you.
We also know that some service charges in supported accommodation can be costly when you first start to work. Talk to us if this is something that you are worried about.
We know that employment, education, or training is about helping you to become the best you can be. This will give you the best life chances you can possibly have and so we want to work with you to help you to have your best future. Even if you are not able to work now due to your current physical or emotional health, we want to help you be ready to be your best self in the future.
We can work with you to give you an experience of the workplace, at your own pace, to help you be ready to work in the future.
For those of you not yet working, we have a joint protocol (agreement) between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Devon County Council Care Experienced People team to ensure that you are as supported as possible by the DWP until you start work in the future.
We can work with you to give you an experience of the workplace, at your own pace, to help you be ready to work in the future.
For those of you not yet working, we have a joint protocol (agreement) between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Devon County Council Care Experienced People team to ensure that you are as supported as possible by the DWP until you start work in the future.
If you are under 19 or have an EHCP, you will also receive support from Careers South West who provide independent and impartial information, advice and guidance about career and course options.
They have qualified, professional advisers working in locations across Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay, Devon and Somerset. Their advisors can help you find up-to-date information about careers, jobs, education courses, volunteering, training opportunities and other personal support so you can see all the options open to you.
Employment Hubs offers targeted employment and training advice to people aged 16-24. Operating from the Exeter Library, the service is aimed specifically at those in or near the Exeter area, including East and Mid Devon.
They have qualified, professional advisers working in locations across Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay, Devon and Somerset. Their advisors can help you find up-to-date information about careers, jobs, education courses, volunteering, training opportunities and other personal support so you can see all the options open to you.
Employment Hubs offers targeted employment and training advice to people aged 16-24. Operating from the Exeter Library, the service is aimed specifically at those in or near the Exeter area, including East and Mid Devon.
Our Family Firm
The Corporate Parenting Partnership is made up of a group of large employers across Devon which includes, local authorities, health services, Police, education providers and the charitable sector, all working together to support you. We also work with local and national businesses, and educational providers through our engagement and procurement activities to find opportunities for our young people. This is our Education, Employment and Training Partnership that we continue to develop to help you realise your potential.
We can help find a range of opportunities in retail, agriculture and farming, construction, hospitality, administration and many more options depending on the type of environment or place that you want to work in. Your PA or Education, Training and Employment PA will work with you to collect information about what you want to do in the future. We can then store this in our Talent and Aspirations Bank which holds offers of employment work experience and apprenticeships across our Education Employment and Training partnership. This can then match up your hopes and aspirations with opportunities from our Education, Employment and Training Partnership as they arise.
If you would like to work at Devon County Council, here are the ways that we will offer to support:
We can help find a range of opportunities in retail, agriculture and farming, construction, hospitality, administration and many more options depending on the type of environment or place that you want to work in. Your PA or Education, Training and Employment PA will work with you to collect information about what you want to do in the future. We can then store this in our Talent and Aspirations Bank which holds offers of employment work experience and apprenticeships across our Education Employment and Training partnership. This can then match up your hopes and aspirations with opportunities from our Education, Employment and Training Partnership as they arise.
If you would like to work at Devon County Council, here are the ways that we will offer to support:
- your Education, Training and Employment PA and others will help you with completing a Devon County Council application form and to prepare for a discussion with the manager or an interview
- we will explain the recruitment process to you, so that you know what to expect if you apply for work experience, apprenticeship or a role, the job description will explain what you will be doing in the job and what qualifications you need
- the job description will explain the essential criteria that you need to have to be able to do that role. If you are able to meet the essential criteria for a job you are interested in, we will guarantee that you can have an interview.
There are opportunities at Devon County Council for you to build on your Pathway Plan into employment:
- to complete a work experience placement that is based on your aspirations and interests
- We have ringfenced apprenticeships which we advertise just for care leavers
- You will have an opportunity to complete your functional English and Maths qualifications during this time
- We have ringfenced jobs which are advertised just for care leavers
- There will be opportunities to further develop in the role which also could include apprenticeships and functional English and Maths
- This means that if you do not have these qualifications this will not prevent you getting a role at DCC if you meet the rest of the person specification and have a successful interview
We will also offer a favoured approach to Devon County Council care leavers if they apply for roles in Devon County Council. By this we mean we will support our care leavers to complete functional skills qualifications in maths and English whilst on the job (if this is a job requirement). This means that not having these qualifications will not prevent you getting a role at Devon County Council if you meet the rest of the person specification and have a successful interview.
Our Education, Training and Employment PAs aim to meet with any care experienced person who is not yet in employment training or education and will challenge and help them to find their pathway.
Our Education, Training and Employment PAs aim to meet with any care experienced person who is not yet in employment training or education and will challenge and help them to find their pathway.