BOURNEMOUTH needs to do more to ensure children in care are supported through further or higher education, a council report claims.

“Looked After Children” – the term for those who are in care or have been in care – face a number of significant obstacles when trying to continue their education after the age of 16, the report concludes.

One of these is that the pupil premium funding, which aims to ensure Looked After Children fulfil their potential, cuts off at the age of 16 leaving youngsters with no guaranteed extra money.

There are bursaries that can be applied for but the application forms are complicated and there can be long delays before any money is received.

And unlike Poole, Bournemouth has no dedicated education caseworker with responsibility for monitoring and supporting Looked After Children over the age of 16.

The problem was also highlighted by Ofsted when they inspected Bournemouth’s services for care leavers. Ofsted said the council did not have high enough aspirations for its care leavers and too few were going on to university.

They said that by the age of 19, 40 per cent of care leavers were not in education, training or employment, and there was “significantly less focus” on helping older young people achieve.

A special task and finish group set up by Bournemouth council is now recommending the council establishes stronger links and protocols with further education providers, that it considers the need for a dedicated council officer and that it lobbies both Bournemouth MPs to see if the pupil premium can be extended.

Cllr Chris Wakefield, the chair of the corporate parenting panel, said: “We need to give these young people the same opportunities that any other young person has in order to pursue their education.

“The major barrier is the opportunity to access additional funding. Education is compulsory until the age of 18 but there is no support for them post 16. That’s a national problem, which is why I’ve written to the MPs and will be pursuing it with the Department for Education.

“The council has a duty of care as corporate parents but wouldn’t we just want anybody to have that opportunity to move forward, to give themselves a better start in life?

“We need to give them that support, that confidence, those aspirations.”