Collaboration for change: Increasing access to apprenticeships for care leavers

New members invited to join national network supporting care leavers through apprenticeships.

Moving On Up was established in 2021 by a small group of like-minded organisations, passionate about supporting those with care experience to access apprenticeships. Chaired by sector expert Jonny Hoyle of North Yorkshire Council, the group includes representatives from Amazing Apprenticeships, Gingernut Training, AoC, AELP, NHS, Amazon, the John Lewis Partnership, Department for Education and the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum.

It is estimated that there are 90,000 care leavers aged 16-24 in England, and less than 2% currently progress onto an apprenticeship, with even fewer claiming and receiving the Apprenticeship Care Leavers’ Bursary. Data for 21/22 shows that 350 bursaries were successfully claimed, and the Moving On Up collaboration are keen to see this number increase.

Moving On Up has achieved a huge amount, focussing on practical ways that businesses and training providers can be encouraged to take action, including national conferences, roundtables, resources and meetings with Ministers. The group also supported the increase in the Apprenticeship Care Leavers’ Bursary, which will increase from £1,000 to £3,000 from August 2023.

The impact of this group has been significant, and the membership is growing. The Moving On Up Network will hold the first official network meeting on the 1^st August and is inviting anyone with an interest to join this collaboration.

“The collective response from the sector in trying to identify and address the issues that are faced by care experienced young people when accessing apprenticeships has been incredible. We firmly believe that due to the unique circumstances care experienced people have, apprenticeships are brilliant ways to help young people move successfully into adulthood, and we want to build on this through the network.

We’re keen to engage and support anyone who wants to increase and share their knowledge and understanding in this area so that we can expand the network to have even greater impact and create more high-quality opportunities for our care experienced young people.” Jonny Hoyle, Chair.

Join the network

The Network will provide a central place where anyone who wants to develop their knowledge and understanding of how we can help more care experienced individuals to access apprenticeships can join to learn and share.  The aim is to help to increase awareness in the barriers and challenges that can face care experienced individuals when trying to access and progress through apprenticeships, and to inspire members to take action, reflect on their own processes and share their learnings with their wider networks.

On Tuesday 1^st August the first Network meeting will be held online, engaging the wider sector, providing information and resources to support awareness of the increased Apprenticeship Care Leavers’ Bursary and explain to new members how they can be involved.

Membership of the network is free of charge, and anyone with an interest in apprenticeships and supporting care experienced young people is welcome to join.

To sign up, please visit www.amazingapprenticeships.com/moving-on-up