Available for all care leavers
Whilst moving into your own place can be an exciting time, it can also be a daunting and expensive process. Your personal advisor can help you access up to £2000 which can be used to help you furnish your home.
How and when this money is paid will be dependent on how you move to independent living and is designed to support you through your whole transition. For example, if you move into a furnished flat more of this funding may be held back to meet your future needs.
This funding will include £25 for your first purchase of cleaning materials, your first TV license and a £50 first food shop.
You will be able to request any remaining funding that you're eligible for up to your 25th birthday.
Available for Eligible, Relevant and Former Relevant Care Leavers
When you find a place to live, we can provide one month's rent payment in order to help you get started. In addition, we can provide £100 to support an admin fee that you may have to pay the estate agent.
When you find a place in which you want to live, you may have to pay a deposit in order to secure the tenancy. We will support you by providing up to one month's rent towards the deposit in helping you put down the deposit.
Care Leavers have told us that an area they would like information and guidance on is how to pay bills and how to not fall behind with payments.
The Mix Website has lots of useful pages which cover dealing with bills, what to expect on moving day and how to deal with household problems such as damp as examples.
Heating and Electric Support is available for all Care Leavers, the remaining grants are available to Eligible, Relevant and Former Relevant Care Leavers and Qualifying Care Leavers on a Discretionary basis.
Sometimes emergency or sudden costs can occur that you need to pay for. Although these need to be paid for these costs shouldn't push you into financial hardship. We will therefore support you with the following payments if you need them:
Heating and Electric - maximum of £20;
Food - maximum of £30 (voucher or supervised spend);
Resettlement clothing grant - maximum of £100;
Cold weather grant - up to £20 in periods of extreme weather;
Emergency Winter Clothing Grant - maximum of £50.
If you need to access these payments, you may have to undertake an assessment to understand your needs or budgeting sessions in order to help you not end up in a similar situation in the future.
Although having a house phone may seem like a good option and smart phones are a vital part of everyday life, they can be expensive and very difficult to get out of.
When you sign up, it is important to ask about the length of the contact, what happens if you need to move property mid-contract and what the process for cancellation is.