Apprenticeship info for care experienced young people
Information and links to further support if you are applying for an apprenticeship and have experience of care.
Apprenticeship information
The Apprenticeship Guide for Care Experienced Young People aims to provide all the information a young person with care experience needs to know to consider apprenticeships as their next step.
This resource has been produced by Amazing Apprenticeships and covers the benefits of apprenticeships, how to apply, the all-important added financial and practical support available for apprentices with care experience and much more.
It might be helpful to know that, once you have commenced your apprenticeship, there is a support network which might be helpful to join. The Association of apprentices is a not-for-profit support group for all apprentices, not just those with care experience, once the training has begun started.
You can access the Apprenticeship Guide for Care Experienced Young People from the link below:
https://amazingapprenticeships.com/resource/care-leavers-guide/
Student finance (for an apprenticeship)
As with concerns over applying to university the same applies to apprenticeships and again there is plenty of support available if you know where to look. There may be eligibility criteria to meet and we have given some links below:
- A higher education bursary, if you are studying an apprenticeship at higher or degree level, and which you don’t pay back – see ‘Local Authority support’ at the bottom of this page for information about the offer from each region.
- Apprenticeships Care Leavers’ Bursary, is for care leaver apprentices up to age 24 (inc.) and is a bursary throughout your first year of £3000 to support students with the costs of starting an apprenticeship.
IMPORTANT: Many students do not like to declare their care status and if this is the case it falls to the support worker to record a specific code on their young persons ILR (individual learning record). This will then highlight the young persons status and activate the bursary, by the training provider.
Local authority (LA) support
Local councils are often able to support care leavers in a number of different ways. The links for each local council support plan, in our regions, can be accessed by clicking on each name in bold below:
Berkshire is covered by the following: West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest, Reading and Slough.