Young People and Care Leavers
Advice and tools for young people who are thinking of leaving their family home or the home of their extended family or friends, or for young people leaving care.
Guidance and tools
This can help you and the parent(s) or family you live with by providing practical ideas to help you all to try and work out a solution, so you don’t have to leave home.
Generally, for people leaving home, it is a major decision and requires careful thought and planning.
Shelter have provided a useful guide for young people leaving home, which can be found here:
Emergency options for homeless 16 to 25 year olds - Shelter England
Are you 16 or 17 years old?
East Suffolk Council works with Suffolk County Council under the Joint Protocol for young people (16- and 17-year-olds) experiencing homelessness. The assessment of your housing needs will be carried out jointly to arrive at a solution in line with your circumstances.
Suffolk County Council Leaving Care Team
Suffolk County Councils Leaving Care Team will help Suffolk care leavers prepare for adulthood and develop their independence. You will be entitled to this support up to the age of 21, or up to the age 25 in some circumstances If you have been ‘looked after’ for 13 weeks from the age of 14 and for at least a day following your 16th birthday you will become an eligible child under the Child Leaving Care Act (2000).
If you are aged 18 to 21, you can get help from both Suffolk County Council and the Housing Needs service. You are automatically classed as being in ‘priority need until your 21st birthday, which means that the Housing Needs service should help you find a suitable place to live
If you are classed as a person leaving care, you are given a personal adviser who will help you with application forms for housing, benefits, and education and/or training courses. Your personal adviser should stay in contact with you and provide ongoing support and help until you turn 21 or until your 25th birthday in some circumstances.
The Housing Register
Affordable housing is in short supply in Suffolk. We do accept applications onto the Gateway to Homechoice scheme from anyone who is eligible and can demonstrate a local connection to East Suffolk, or who is a Suffolk care leaver.
Threatened with homelessness?
If you think you will be homeless in the next 56 days, and you cannot find your own alternative accommodation, you can approach East Suffolk Council for assistance on 0333 016 2000.
Provided you are eligible, the council will assess your needs and draw up a plan to help you resolve your housing problem.
This plan will include the steps that you and the council will take to find a housing solution.
Feel unsafe at home?
Further advice on keeping yourself safe can be found on the Suffolk County Council’s website. You can also report a child at risk of harm.
Reporting a child at risk of harm, abuse or neglect (safeguarding) - Suffolk County Council