One-off £2,000 grant gives care leavers head start, study finds

Care leavers who were given a one-off, no strings attached £2,000 grant were less likely to become homeless or spend time in hospital or prison, according to a new study.

Researchers from King's College London found the participants also reported higher levels of well-being, including feeling optimistic and able to deal with problems.

Leaving care, without a family safety net, has consistently been found to be associated with higher levels of homelessness, unemployment and crime.

One participant, Aeryn Hill, said the £2,000 had made "a big improvement" in her life as "we don't get the opportunity to do things that other people do".

The UK government-funded study recruited 302 people aged 18-25.

They had all spent time under the care of nine different local authorities in England, who recommended them.

All were initially asked to fill in an online survey before 100 were randomly chosen to receive the £2,000 grant, from June 2023.

Researchers followed up with both groups, six and 12 months later, to see how they had got on.

They found that those who received the money were:

Young people who received the cash transfer consistently reported that they spent 12% less on alcohol, tobacco or drugs than they had previously.

Some of the impacts were higher at the six month-point mark; others at the one year point but all were positive overall.

"The findings from the trial are encouraging, with consistent positive effects on participants' housing stability, wellbeing, social connectedness, contact with health services and other outcomes we measured," said Prof Michael Sanders, director of the Policy Institute, King's College.

"These results highlight the potential benefits of conditional cash transfers, which are not only easier and cheaper to administer than other types of interventions, but also allow recipients more agency and dignity, recognising they themselves are usually best placed to make decisions about their lives."

'I could finally get the thing I needed'

Hill says she was "speechless for a good 10 minutes" after finding out that she had been chosen to receive the money.

"These things don't often happen to me, I'm not a very lucky person."

The 22-year-old from the West Midlands spent two years in care as a teenager, living with foster parents, which she describes as a "very mentally taxing experience".

She says she has autism and "other issues" which weren't appreciated or supported at the time.

"It just felt like the only person I had was myself, which really sucks."

Despite the challenges, she managed to go to university and is currently studying forensic investigations.

Hill used the money to buy a PC for her studies and to take her partner on holiday, for a week to Liverpool.

"I was working on a laptop that was slow and it kept crashing. I'd been saving for a new PC but when I got the money, it meant I could finally get the thing I really needed to help with uni," she says.

A third become homeless within two years of leaving care, while about a quarter of the prison population have spent time in care.

Care leavers are much less likely to go to university or to be in any education, training or employment at age 19.

Direct cash transfers have been shown to help tackle poverty in several other countries.

Researchers from King's College have already started another project examining whether giving homeless people a £2,000 no strings attached cash grant can tackle homelessness.

The Centre for Homelessness Impact, which commissioned the study, says the outcomes should encourage councils to "consider direct financial support for young people leaving care, with no strings attached".

Researchers have recommended a bigger study over a longer term to see if it would have greater effects, including examining whether giving higher amounts of money, or repeated cash transfers, would have more impact.