Becoming a Partner
Sign-up as a Care Leaver Covenant Partner and become part of the Universal Family supporting care leavers.
How to Become Partners of the Universal Family
Partners recognise their entire organisation’s role in promoting the concept of the universal family in which care-experienced young people can benefit from their long-term empathy and support in making a successful transition to adulthood.
A Partner of the Care Leaver Covenant also supports and facilitates the Covenant’s primary aim by promoting opportunities and offers to care leavers and raising awareness of the Care Leaver Covenant amongst their networks.
Partners work collaboratively with the Care Leaver Covenant on a simple process to define their offer. Read more below.
Partners are organisations that go beyond direct offers or opportunities that care leavers benefit from. Your organisation could work directly with care-experienced young people and want to enhance your offer.
Therefore, the types of organisations that would become Partner of the Care Leaver Covenant would be:
- Unitary Local Authorities with a legal duty to support care leavers.
- Charities working directly with care experienced young people.
- Voluntary organisations that work with care experienced young people.
- Education & Social Care Specific Organisations.
- Fostering & Care Providers/Agencies.
- Public sector bodies
Any Queries?
To become a Partner of the Care Leaver Covenant you will complete a proforma, detailing how we will work together based on the three-pillar strategy below.
A member of the engagement team will work with you to develop your offer.
At any stage feel free to drop us a line.
Our Partners in Action
The Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP) have agreed to support the Care Leaver Covenant in developing an engagement strategy and working with Individual Foster Agencies they have agreed to disseminate our Covenant offers and opportunities directly to young people and those who support them.
Website: www.nafp.org.uk
Local Authorities have a legal duty to support children in care and care leavers. The Care Leaver Covenant supports Council’s to build a network of opportunity beyond their statutory offer, which importantly meets the needs of those young people leaving care by surrounding them with a universal family of businesses, organisations and partners who deliver offers and opportunities for care leavers through the Covenant.
Blackpool City Council and their Cabinet adopted the Covenant’s ‘Whole Council Approach’, which means that every part of the Council considers the impact their decisions have on their young people.
Since the decision was taken by the Council’s leadership many local businesses and arms-length companies including Blackpool Transport, the NHS Trust and Choice Hotels, to name a few, have become Covenant signatories offering job opportunities and life skills for their young people.
The City Council’s Cabinet agreed that: “There is also an overarching ambition at the heart of the covenant: namely, for society – civic, civil and business – to be the lifelong ‘universal family’ to those who have not enjoyed the love and support that comes from having devoted birth parents to fall back on.”
Website: www.blackpool.gov.uk
The Office For Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and the regulatory body overseeing Higher Education Providers.
It has the responsibility of overseeing and supporting institutions to deliver on their Access and Participation Plans, ensuring that key groups of students are being given priority in budget spending, and decision-making and ensuring best practice is shared and encouraged.
The Care Leaver Covenant partnership with the OfS is a true example of sharing practice throughout the sector, networking to understand issues and then coming together to collaborate on what students and providers within Higher Education are reporting and more widely, how the sector is (and could be) responding.
Website: www.officeforstudents.org.uk
The 3 Pillars of the Partnership Approach
01. Opportunity Take-up
Opportunity Take-up is defined as how your organisation will promote existing Covenant opportunities and offers to care experienced young people. Particularly, encouraging young people and those who work with them to register for Connects (our direct email and app system).
This could be through social media campaigns or within existing support groups or care leaver hubs and those who work directly with young people.
Importantly, your organisation could directly support care-experienced young people to live independently and therefore be able to enable young people to access Covenant opportunities published through Connects.
02. Awareness Raising
Awareness Raising is defined by how your organisation will promote the Care Leaver Covenant wherever possible. This includes your supply chains, through the procurement and commissioning of services or within professional networks that exist within your sector.
Examples of this could include inviting the Care Leaver Covenant to speak at an event or meeting with organisations, businesses or partners that could sign the Care Leaver Covenant and offer opportunities to care leavers.
Secondly, you can directly link prospective signatories to the Care Leaver Covenant engagement team.
Thirdly, you could enhance your social value requirements within your social value action plan to include outcomes for care leavers and an expectation that your partners and supply chain become signatories of the Care Leaver Covenant.
03. Policy Collaboration & System Change
Policy Collaboration is defined as the alignment of your organisation using its influence and leadership to improve outcomes for care leavers within your sector or wider society.
For Unitary Local Authorities, this would include working towards the Covenant’s ‘Whole Council Approach’ Strategy, defined here.
For organisations within the wider public sector, this could include defining policies that improve services and access for care experienced young people.
For organisations in the charitable or voluntary sector, this could include collaborating with the Care Leaver Covenant on projects and programs of work in environments where care leavers access services and support.
The 3 Step Process to Becoming a Partner
We are happy to input and support, feel free to get in touch at any stage.
Step 1
Internal Planning
Think about how your organisation could develop its offer as a partner. Importantly, who will form part of any strategic working group?
Also consider who your organisational leads will be for your partnership work with the Care Leaver Covenant.
Step 2
Complete the Covenant Sign-up Form
Complete a Partnerships Proforma. The proforma details how you’re able to support the aims of the Care Leaver Covenant and promote this to care leavers, support workers and organisations.
Alongside this, you will identify a primary single point of contact who will act as your Care Leaver Covenant ambassador within your organisation.
We’re happy to help you at any stage – please email [email protected].
Step 3
Promotion & Monitoring
Once your proforma is complete and confirmed, you will be recognised as a partner of the Care Leaver Covenant on our partnerships page.
We will work with your designated Care Leaver Covenant lead to monitor progress.
Your organisation will also receive useful information to promote and develop your offer alongside receiving the Care Leaver Covenant’s Partnership Emblem.
Partner FAQs
Can our organisation also become a Signatory of the Covenant?
Partners can also become signatories of the Care Leaver Covenant if they’re able to provide a direct offer or opportunity for care leavers that can be promoted to them. Examples could include ringfenced employment opportunities, employability support, life skills and discounted offers.
Click here to become a Covenant signatory.
How will the Care Leaver Covenant work with its Partners?
The CLC will work with partners to record impact on an annual basis with a single point of contact within the organisation in alignment with the agreed proforma.
Partners with aligned or shared goals at both a local and national level will be linked to respective Covenant signatories to enable the take-up of opportunities by members of the Covenant team.
Partners will be invited to take part in relevant national and regional events that promote the work of the Care Leaver Covenant.
How does your organisation work with the Care Leaver Covenant as a Partner?
There are three suggested areas of collaboration which facilitate the aims of the Care Leaver Covenant. ‘Opportunity Take-up’, ‘Awareness Raising’ and Policy collaboration. These areas would form the foundation of your organisation’s offer defined within the completed proforma.
Your organisation is not limited to or expected to define an offer around all three areas.
Opportunity Take-up is defined as how your organisation will promote existing Covenant opportunities and offers to care experienced young people. Particularly, encouraging young people and those who work with them to register for Connects (our direct email and app system).
This could be through social media campaigns or within existing support groups or care leaver hubs and those who work directly with young people.
Importantly, your organisation could directly support care-experienced young people to live independently and therefore be able to enable young people to access Covenant opportunities published through Connects.
Awareness Raising is defined by how your organisation will promote the Care Leaver Covenant wherever possible. This includes your supply chains, through the procurement and commissioning of services or within professional networks that exist within your sector.
Examples of this could include inviting the Care Leaver Covenant to speak at an event or meeting with organisations, businesses or partners that could sign the Care Leaver Covenant and offer opportunities to care leavers.
Secondly, you can directly link prospective signatories to the Care Leaver Covenant engagement team.
Thirdly, you could enhance your social value requirements within your social value action plan to include outcomes for care leavers and an expectation that your partners and supply chain become signatories of the Care Leaver Covenant.
Policy Collaboration is defined as the alignment of your organisation using its influence and leadership to improve outcomes for care leavers within your sector or wider society.
For Unitary Local Authorities, this would include working towards the Covenant’s ‘Whole Council Approach’ Strategy, defined here.
For organisations within the wider public sector, this could include defining policies that improve services and access for care experienced young people.
For organisations in the charitable or voluntary sector, this could include collaborating with the Care Leaver Covenant on projects and programmes of work in environments where care leavers access services and support.
Overall, facilitating a system change approach through applied solutions.
Your organisation will have a named single point of contact that will be the Care Leaver Covenant Ambassador within your organisation promoting the partnership and working with the Care Leaver Covenant to deliver the agreed proforma.