but without the duty to provide the financial support this requires, this guidance
has proved somewhat ineffective (Jackson et al. 2005).
The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 was designed to remedy some of
the shortcomings of the 1989 Act in respect of care leavers. The overall aim of
the Act was to reinforce local authority responsibility, both financial and practical,
for all young people in its care. The Act had three particularly important aims.
The first was to delay young people’s discharge from care until they have been
adequately prepared. The second was to improve the assessment, preparation
and planning around the leaving care process. The third was to secure the
availability of financial and personal support to young people once they had left
care. The Act also lays a duty on local authorities to keep in contact with young
people formerly in their care beyond the age of 21 if the young person is on a full-
time further or higher education course. Taken together, this meant that local
authorities would become the young person’s primary source of income, and it
was their responsibility to provide financial support and accommodation costs as
well as a range of other expenses associated with transport and of young
people’s pursuit of training, education and leisure (and for those continuing in full-
time education, to provide this up to the end of their educational course;
Department of Health 2001). In this way, it was hoped the local authorities would
‘mirror’ the responsibilities parents have for their children.
Ways of meeting these new responsibilities were provided for local
authorities in the Guidance accompanying the Act (Department of Health 2001).
Personal support packages would enable an account to be taken of the individual