Care leavers 'experiencing discrimination' will see more support under new legislation

Care leavers who ‘experience discrimination’ when all they’re ‘looking for is love’ will now be better protected in their future thanks to a recent motion at Manchester City Council. Coun Paula Sadler requested that “young people in care” and “care experienced young people” should be an additional characteristic in all of our Equality Impact Assessments, Manchester Town Hall Extension heard.

Coun Sadler’s passionate speech at the full council meeting on October 5 earned rapturous applause as she fought for care leaver’s formal recognition and to make sure that all decisions that are made and policies that are set consider their specific needs and the impact on them. She, and all the councillors in the chamber, hope these proposals will ensure our young people have the tools to build a prosperous, healthy, and happy future.

“This will have a real tangible impact on people who have experienced care,” Coun Sadler said.

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“We want to make it easier for young people to gain employment at the Council and to develop into senior roles – with guaranteed interview schemes, mentoring and support and reasonable adjustments made to support employees with care experience. We also want to see our procurement and commissioning of our services to consider the impact on young people with care experience, in the same way as other protected and additional characteristics are and make extra effort to ensure that they can access all of our services.”

For many in care, discrimination is a regular occurrence, a former care leaver stated. Terry Galloway, a former care leaver who lived in the care system