Catch up on our webinar, held on Thursday 21st April, to discuss the opportunities available from the Department for Education's (DfE) Staying Close Programme.
Watch now
Earlier this month, the DfE announced £36m funding for Staying Close - a programme to provides extra support for young people leaving care from children’s homes - over the next three years. The DfE has invited Local Authorities to apply for grant funding to establish and deliver a Staying Close offer in their locality.
The DfE has funded the Staying Close pilots since 2017/18 with eight pilots across England, run by five Local Authorities and three voluntary sector organisations. Each model is slightly different to meet the needs of their specific cohort of young people in their local context, but the core offer includes accommodation and a package of emotional and practical support.
Mutual Ventures and Innovation Unit have provided coaching and technical support to the pilot Staying Close projects over the last five years.
In this informal Q&A session, our resident expert, Frances Flaxington is joined by Katie Adam, policy lead at Department for Education, Julia Vernon from Suffolk County Council, Stephen Hulme from Break, Sarah Read from Portsmouth City Council and Sandra Snell from North East LincolnshireCouncil to share their experiences and answer your questions.
The session:
Describes the key elements of the Staying Close model
Shares learning, including hearing from some of the Pilots
Provides a Q&A to inform your Expression of Interest submissions
For more information on our work on children's services and how we can support you, contact david@mutualventures.co.uk.