Check leaving-care support, grants and practical help before you leave custody.
If you grew up in foster care or residential care, tell your prison resettlement worker and ask to contact the council that looked after you. You may have support available that has not yet been included in your release plan.
Eligible care leavers in England can receive personal-adviser support until 21, and up to their 25th birthday if they want it. If you lost contact after 21, ask to reconnect before 25. Ask for your pathway plan to be reviewed before release. This plan should set out the support you need.
Being in prison does not itself remove leaving-care responsibilities. Ask your personal adviser, resettlement worker and probation practitioner to agree who is doing what about accommodation, money, identification, education, health and appointments. Different teams may have different responsibilities.
These are separate forms of support. They are not one automatic payment for proving you were in care, and the figures should not be added together as a guaranteed package.
Government recommendation: at least £3,000 for the leaving-care / setting-up-home allowance. It is for essentials when establishing your home, rather than an automatic cash payment on release from prison.
Ask your personal adviser what total applies to you, how much remains, which items it covers and whether the council buys items or pays money. Local rules and age cohorts can affect the offer; do not buy items expecting repayment without agreement.
Eligible care leavers entering higher education may qualify for a £2,000 council higher-education bursary. Ask the leaving-care team about eligibility, timing and whether the council offers more. Also ask your college or university about its own bursaries, hardship support and accommodation help; these have separate rules.
Official leaving-care education support ↗ · Education in custody ↗
For an eligible apprenticeship in England starting on or after 1 August 2023, the care-leaver bursary is £3,000, normally paid in three instalments during the first year. You must be under 25 at the start and meet the scheme’s legal care-leaver definition. Previous bursary payments affect what remains available.
Ask the training provider to help claim. It needs written confirmation of status from your council; an email can be accepted. This bursary is separate from wages and from extra payments made to an employer or training provider.
Check the bursary rules and payment process ↗Depending on your council’s Local Offer and assessed circumstances, ask about ID documents, deposits or rent in advance, moving costs, food and utilities, council tax help, interview clothing, work equipment and travel. Some help is paid through purchases or services rather than cash.
Lancashire example: its published financial offer includes conditional help with these practical costs. Its setting-up-home allowance is £3,000 for people who turned 18 on or after 1 April 2023, with different amounts for earlier cohorts. Access is up to the 25th birthday. This is Lancashire’s offer, not a national promise.
Read Lancashire’s financial support and conditions ↗Ask your council whether its custody offer includes an allowance, help maintaining safe relationships or money saved towards release. Do not wait until release to ask.
Westmorland and Furness example: its published offer provides £1 a day, up to £7 a week, with conditions about engagement in planning and confirmation of training, work or medical inability to work. The person can discuss retaining some for setting up home. Other councils may have different offers.
Read that council’s custody offer ↗Tell both the leaving-care team and prison resettlement team if you have nowhere safe to go. Ask for housing services to be involved before release and for a clear record of who is arranging the next step.
Your care history and age can affect homelessness duties and priority need. Current English guidance also includes specific protections for certain care leavers under 25. Ask housing to assess your circumstances under the current rules; do not accept an assumption that prison automatically cancels your eligibility. This does not guarantee a council tenancy or a particular property.
Official housing guidance for people with care experience ↗Ask the council that looked after you to confirm your leaving-care status and relevant dates. This may be different from the council nearest the prison. If you do not remember which council, tell the resettlement worker what you do remember and ask for help finding the responsible team.
Different schemes need different evidence. For an apprenticeship bursary, the council’s written confirmation can be supplied to the training provider. You should not need to send an entire personal history to every organisation; ask what specific evidence is required.
Before the Gate does not collect care records or proof of status. Do not send documents, dates of birth, case files or completed sheets to us. Deal directly with the responsible council or service.
A starting point: “I was in care and I’m preparing to leave prison. Please confirm my leaving-care status, my personal adviser and the financial and practical support I can access. Can we review my pathway plan before release?”
Ask about independent advocacy if you need help being heard. If you are 25 or older, ask what help remains available in your circumstances and about general housing, education and resettlement support; do not assume the under-25 package applies unchanged.
Print a private questions and release checklist ↗Information checked 16 October 2026. Sources: GOV.UK leaving-care support · Allowance uplift · Lancashire Local Offer · the scheme and council links above. Local examples are labelled. Confirm current eligibility, available balances and payment arrangements directly; this page cannot determine individual entitlement.