Housing advice for care leavers

Housing advice for care leavers over 18

Housing help for 18 to 25 year-old care leavers

If you are a care leaver aged 18 to 25, you could get help from Ealing Council children’s services or from Ealing Council’s housing solutions team, depending on your needs and circumstances.

If you are over 18, you will have your own personal adviser and if you are over 21, you will also have access to after care services at Horizons. You can discuss housing problems with either.

If you approach housing solutions, we will have a duty to assess the circumstances of your homelessness, identify what your housing and support needs are, and to work with you to try to prevent your homelessness or support you to find you somewhere to live.

We will provide you with a personal housing plan which will tell you what we can do to help you and what you can do to help yourself. This might include actions such as attending appointments with our employment and skills team or engaging with organisations that can support care leavers.

If you are homeless we will consider whether we have a duty to provide you with accommodation. You will automatically be classed as being in ‘priority need’ for accommodation purposes until your 21st birthday if:

  • You are aged 18 to 21 and spent at least one night in care when you were 16 or 17
  • You are older than 21 but qualify for assistance as you are still in education

Children’s services can also help you by providing support and help with training and education. If you are in full-time further or higher education, children’s services must find you somewhere to live during holiday periods if you need it.

The best way to get advice from Ealing Council’s housing solutions team is to come in person to Ealing Council at Perceval House, 14/16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, W5 2HL between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

We will either give you advice on the day you visit us, or after making an initial assessment of your circumstances, will make an appointment for you to see an advisor at a later date.

Please note that Perceval House opens at 10am on the second Wednesday of each month.

Benefits for care leavers over 18

When you turn 18 you are entitled to claim benefits. You should be able to claim universal credit if you need to.

Housing help for care leavers aged 21 years and older

Ealing Council will provide housing assistance to all care leavers aged 21 or above in the form of a personal housing plan. Personal advisers will also help and support care leavers until their 25th birthday.

Some older care leavers can get accommodation from Ealing Council housing solutions if they are in priority need because they are considered vulnerable. For example, this may be the case if you:

  • are vulnerable as a result of having been in care
  • vulnerable as a result of other health or social circumstances
  • If you are in full-time further or higher education and you have nowhere to stay outside term time, children’s services must also find you somewhere to live.

Other support for care leavers aged 18 to 24

As a care leaver you should continue to receive help and advice from Ealing Council until your 25th birthday, including assistance with education and training. Your personal adviser should keep in touch and should go over your pathway plan with you to see how you are getting on.

Ask children’s services to help you if you need support to continue with your education or find training or employment. They may be able to help with the cost of living near your college, training centre or workplace.

You will also be able to access after care services at Horizons