This month, about half a million 18-year-olds around the UK will be packing their bags ready to start university. The latest figures show that 47% of young people from state-funded schools will progress into higher education by age 19; but the same figure for children who grew up in care is just 14%. This is the “care ceiling” that holds back young people who have had the worst start in life. A new report published by the children and families unit at Civitas suggests it will take more than 100 years to close that gap and break this care ceiling at the current rate of progress. It doesn’t have to be this way – and it would take only a few relatively simple reforms to make a huge difference.
The report, which I have backed with a cross-party group of peers, shows that getting into university and graduating helps to prevent many of the terrible outcomes that are typically associated with leaving care. At the moment, it is sadly still the case that an 18-year-old care leaver is more likely to end up in a prison cell than a university lecture theatre. They make up a quarter of the homeless population and are far less likely to be in education, employment or training than other people of their age.
