What is my care leaving status?

There are four different legal status’ for care leavers: eligible, relevant, former relevant, and qualifying.

Statuses

To be eligible for the Local Offer, you must have one of the following four statuses.

Eligible child

You are an eligible child if:

• You were in care on or after your 16th birthday
• You were in care for 13 weeks or more after your 14th birthday
• You are still in care

Relevant child

You are a relevant child if:

• You were in care on or after your 16th birthday
• You were in care for 13 weeks or more after your 14th birthday
• You are not still in care
• You are under 18

Relevant young person

You are a relevant young person if:

• You were in care on or after your 16th birthday
• You were in care for 13 weeks or more after your 14th birthday
• You are not still in care
• You are over 18

Qualifying young person

You are a qualifying young person if:

• You were in care on or after your 16th birthday for more than 1 day
• You were not in care for 14 weeks or more after your 14th birthday

No care leaver status

You have no care leaver status if:

• You were not in care on or after your 16th birthday
• You were not looked after directly before a Special Guardianship Order was granted

If you are not sure what your leaving care status is, please speak to your personal advisor.