Planning your future
What will happen when I turn 18?
When you turn 18, you are no longer looked after by us under the law. However, we will continue to support you until you are 21, and make sure that you are coping and settled in to where you are living.
When you're 16, your social worker will have helped you to apply for social housing with us. It can often take time to be housed through the council and you will usually be offered a one-bedroom or studio flat.
There is always a shortage of property in Lambeth, but we will help you to make sure that you are offered a house when you turn 18. If you don’t want to move into the house you have been offered, you can appeal this and move into temporary accommodation while you wait for a response.
The rules with Lambeth housing are that you only get one house option. If you don’t accept the offer that they give you, then you will lose the flat. Your only other option is private accommodation which is much more expensive.
When you are offered a property, you will get financial help to furnish your place from your social worker. This is called a 'setting up home' allowance.
Setting up home allowance
When you have signed for your permanent accommodation, the leaving care team will help you to furnish your property through a setting up home allowance. This will give you enough money to buy essential furniture and items such as a sofa, bed, wardrobe and kitchen utensils.
If you are receiving benefits, or will be in the coming months, you can apply for a community care grant for more help to furnish and decorate your property.
We require you to spend this allowance with an appropriate person, for example, a personal adviser, key worker or social worker.
Privately rented flats and bedsits
Some young people will move into a privately rented flat or bedsit. If you think this is the type of accommodation that you will need, you can talk to your social worker about this and the leaving care service will look at your circumstances and see if they can offer you a package of support.
Accommodation when you're at university
If you're attending university in London, you will most likely be living in your Lambeth Council accommodation.
If you go to university outside of London, we can look at supporting you to live in the halls of residence. We would also offer you vacation accommodation in London, which would be in shared accommodation with other young people.
We will negotiate with the housing team to hold your offer of accommodation in Lambeth until you complete your course. Once you have completed your course, we can help you to make sure you get your offer of accommodation if you choose this.
Training, education and work for care leavers
When you are leaving school, it’s time to think about what you want to do in the future.
Do you want to go to university, or do some particular training? Do you want to work in a certain field?
We all have different ideas about what we want to do in the future – sometimes it can be hard to make this decision.
We currently have a Connexions worker based in the leaving care team. They will work with your social worker to make sure that you receive proper support from Connexions, your school or college, or a careers centre - depending on what you need.
It is their job to check if you are linked to any other Connexions worker, and will help you. All young people need some guidance to know their options for the future.
We want you to have all of the support and encouragement to do the best you can.