A Review of the Local Offer for Care Leavers

The ‘Local Offer’ for care leavers was introduced in 2017 in England in order to provide young people leaving care with accessible information about all the services and support that are available to them through their Local Authority (LA). However, since its introduction there has been limited research and evaluation carried out.

This research examined a diverse range of Local Offers in order to identify trends and gaps in the current provision of services for care leavers across England. We also evaluated whether the Local Offers were meeting government guidelines in terms of being clear and accessible.

The review highlights small, practical but essential steps about how Local Offers for care leavers can be improved. Whilst many of the issues raised suggest the need for greater action at a national level, there are also important implications for practice. We encourage practitioners to get involved with the production, development and maintenance of Local Offers and provide recommendations for how Local Offers could be improved.

While focused on England, the research has important UK wide implications for how services to care leavers are signposted and communicated.