Who to speak to for help and advice when you're a care leaver

Your personal advisor can help you access our support within this offer. They will:

• be involved in understanding your needs and preparing your pathway plan so that you can get a good idea of what you want to do with your life
• review your pathway plan at least every six months to help you to stay on track and achieve the things you want from life
• help you think about your future and independence skills
• help you find the right place to live
• talk to you about whether we can get help from our partners in housing, health and other areas
• provide financial assistance towards and activity twice a year that you and your personal advisor can do together
• liaise with youth offending services and probation if needed

If there is anything you do not understand or need further information about, speak to your personal advisor.

You have the right to an independent advocate which we can provide through our Junction 21 Mentoring and Advocacy Project. You can ask your personal advisor to put you in touch, or you can contact them by email Junction21@n-somerset.gov.uk.

Become is the national charity for children in care and care leavers.

The Care Leavers Association is a charity for improving lives of care leavers.

The Children's Commissioner promotes and protects the rights of children.

The Rees Foundation provides small grants to care leavers aged 18 to 25.

The Care Leavers Covenant is national inclusion programme that supports care leavers aged 16 to 25 to live independently.

Propel provides information about the available support for care leavers at college and university.

Shelter provides advice and support with housing issues or homelessness.

Citizens Advice provides information about benefits, employment, and housing.

Coram Voice supports children and young people to hold to account the services that are responsible for their care.

The National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum is a forum of over 125 local authority leaving care teams working together to share good practice and improve services and support for care-experienced young people.

The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) is the leading national provider of advocacy for young people in care.

Childline is a free, private and confidential service for anyone under 19 to talk to someone about any issues they are going through.

Money Helper offers free and impartial help with money and pensions.

Visit GOV.UK for information about benefits you might be eligible for including:

• Child Benefit
• Job Seekers Allowance
• Universal Credit

Call the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 0800 169 0310 if you have an enquiry about existing benefits you receive.

Call HM Revenues & Customs (HMRC) on 0345 300 3900 if you have a question about taxes.

In an emergency call 999 if you need help from police or ambulance services. In life-threatening situations, you can also go to A&E at your nearest hospital.

In non-emergency situations, call the police on 101 and NHS on 111. Urgent treatment centres can help with many of the most common problems people go to A&E for.

When you are 18 you will be able to see all the records that North Somerset has kept about you and your care. You can talk to your personal advisor about how to do this. They will help you to read and understand the information.

You have a right to be involved in all decisions about your care and the right to tell us how you feel about our services.

If you are not happy with something, you can talk to your personal advisor and they will try to help you. You can also use Mind of My Own to express your concerns. If you want to talk to a manger instead of your personal advisor, ask them to put you in touch with “a team manager for the Care Leavers Team”.

If this doesn’t work, you can make a complaint about social services at North Somerset Council.