Before the Gate
Care experience • England • Council support

Find your council’s care-leaver offer

Find out what help to ask for while you are in custody and when you come home.

Every council has its own offer. Extras, amounts, age limits and application rules can differ. Open your council’s page to see its particular support. Start with the council that looked after you. This may be different from the council nearest the prison or the place you will live after release. Ask your personal adviser or social worker if you are unsure which team is responsible.

Find your council

153 council links across nine English regions.

North East 12 councils
North West 24 councils
Yorkshire and the Humber 15 councils
East Midlands 10 councils
West Midlands 14 councils
East of England 11 councils
London 33 councils
South East 19 councils
South West 15 councils

What should I look for?

  • How to contact the leaving-care team and reconnect with a personal adviser.
  • Support in custody, including contact, essential items and any local allowance.
  • Housing and the setting-up-home allowance, including what remains available.
  • Travel, ID, education, work, council tax, emergency help and wellbeing.
  • How to ask for a decision in writing, independent advocacy or a review.

Read the guide to grants and practical support ↗︎ · Print questions to take into a planning meeting ↗︎

Outside England or cannot find the right council?

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different arrangements. Ask the council or health and social care trust that looked after you for its leaving-care service. Do not use the English grant amounts as a promise of support elsewhere.

If an English council page has moved, search its official website for “care leavers Local Offer”, or ask your adviser to send the current version. Some council sites may be blocked on prison devices or need an internet connection.

Directory adapted from the council links on Kithstep’s Local Offers page, reviewed 29 October 2026. Links go to councils or their commissioned services; some are PDFs. Individual offers and web addresses can change. Before the Gate is independent of these services and does not decide eligibility or collect care records.