“Moving On Up brings people and organisations together to recognise the systemic barriers that care-experienced people face…”
Copper shines a social value spotlight on… Moving On Up, a network committed to supporting an increase in care-experienced young people accessing apprenticeships.
Amazing Apprenticeships was launched in 2015 by Dr Anna Morrison CBE, with a mission to tackle misconceptions and promote the benefits of apprenticeships and technical education.
Ten years on, they work with almost 5000 schools and colleges across the country, as well as employers and policy makers.
But, with only a few hundred of the 90,000 care leavers aged 16-24 in the UK starting an apprenticeship each year, Amazing Apprenticeships, in collaboration with leading sector representatives from employers, training providers, charities and government, were moved to launch the Moving On Up network to help tackle the problem.
What is Moving On Up?
North Yorkshire Council Development Lead Jonny Hoyle is care-experienced and serves as Chair of the Moving On Up network. He explained the importance of starting Moving On Up and why it is important to take collective responsibility for providing opportunities for care-experienced young people:
Jonny continues: “Apprenticeships are perfectly placed to provide the opportunity to be part of a team, to earn money, to gain skills, to gain qualifications that can set them up for life.”
Recent ONS (Office for National Statistics) data shows that more than half (52%) of children in care had a criminal conviction by age 24, compared to 13% of children who had not been in care. Government data from 2021 showed that 41% of care-experienced 19–21-year-olds were NEET (not in education, employment, or training).
How is Moving On Up helping to support care-experienced people?
Jonny believes the common ‘deficit narrative’ around care experience is unhelpful and fails to acknowledge the additional skills and maturity that many care-experienced people will, by virtue of their background, have developed:
“Many care-experienced people often have more of the skills employers are looking for. Many live on their own, manage their own money, pay their bills, and manage their own time.”
Anna shared how Moving On Up has spent time trying to unpick systemic issues for care experienced people in accessing opportunities, through learning from care experienced people who join the network meetings:
“When our care experienced apprentices share their stories, the (virtual) room goes silent and everyone is hooked on their words. If you haven’t been involved in the care system or close to it, talking about care experience can feel quite daunting. Is it my place to get involved? What if I get it wrong? At Moving On Up we try to break down all of that and make it really accessible for everyone to learn and understand together.”
Did you know?
Employers and training providers can claim £1,000 in Government funding for each care leaver apprentice they take on, while care leaver apprentices themselves can access a £3,000 bursary to support them financially into a new career.
Since Moving On Up was formed, the number of care leavers accessing bursaries and apprenticeships has increased – but given that apprenticeships are so uniquely designed to meet the needs of care experienced people, these numbers are ‘woefully low’ according to Jonny.
How can employers better support care experienced people?
“One of the things that we found really successful with our apprenticeship offer is that all of our care-experienced apprentices have a line manager, but also access to a separate mentor. That mentor role has been invaluable to all of our apprentices in different ways.” – Jonny
What is there to come from Moving On Up in the coming months?
Anna finishes – “One of the big areas we are keeping an eye on is the development of foundation apprenticeships, which are coming this summer. We want to really ensure that opportunities are being designed with care experienced individuals in mind.”