Transitions Support, Ages 14 to 25
Support across the move from children services into adult life, planned from fourteen rather than panicked about at seventeen.
The most predictable crisis in the whole system
Turning eighteen changes almost everything about a young person support and changes nothing about the young person. Children services end. Adult services have different thresholds, so support that was provided automatically may simply not be available. Education may stop. Named workers a young person has known for years disappear. Different funding, different assessments, different buildings, different rules.
This is entirely predictable. It happens on a known date, years in advance, to every single young person. And it still routinely arrives as a crisis, because planning starts far too late and because the two halves of the system hand over badly.
Transition support is aimed squarely at that. The law says planning should begin from year nine, around age fourteen, and in practice it very often begins at seventeen and a half when somebody notices. Starting early is most of the work.
What we do is provide continuity across the change. The same organisation, and wherever possible the same people, before and after the birthday, so that at least one thing does not change. Alongside that we do the practical preparation: independence skills, budgeting, cooking, travel, managing appointments and correspondence, and getting into education, training, volunteering or work.
We also support the young person to be at the centre of the decisions, which sounds obvious and frequently does not happen. Adults make transition plans about young people constantly, and the plans that fail are the ones the young person never agreed to.
This is likely right if
- A young person is fourteen or over and transition planning has not started
- Eighteen is approaching and nobody knows what happens afterwards
- A young person is losing support they have relied on for years
- A care leaver needs support to live independently
- Independence skills need building before the change rather than after it
Something else may fit better if
- A young person is already settled in adult services with the right support
- What is needed is education, which is a college or training provider
What transition work involves
Mostly starting early and refusing to let the handover be a gap.
Starting at fourteen
Planning should begin around year nine. Starting early is the single biggest factor in whether a transition goes well.
Continuity across the date
The same organisation and where possible the same people before and after the birthday, so one thing stays constant.
Independence skills
Cooking, budgeting, laundry, travel, appointments, post. Taught over years rather than crammed into the last six months.
Education and work
College, training, apprenticeships, volunteering, employment. Occupation matters enormously and gaps are hard to recover from.
The paperwork of adulthood
Benefits in their own name, a bank account, identification, a tenancy, the Mental Capacity Act where it applies.
The young person deciding
Their goals, in their words, in the plan. Transition plans made about a young person rather than with them do not hold.
What is included, and what is not
Set out plainly so there is nothing to discover later. Anything not listed here can still be discussed, and often arranged.
Included as standard
- Support from age fourteen through to twenty five where needed
- A named worker who continues across the transition
- Independence and life skills work built over time
- Support with benefits, identification, housing and appointments in the young person own name
- Links into education, training, volunteering and employment
- Joint working with children and adult social care, schools, colleges and health
- Support to take part in their own transition planning meetings
Arranged separately
- Education itself, which comes from a school, college or training provider
- Clinical treatment and therapy
- Legal representation, including for Mental Capacity Act matters
From first call to first visit
The best time to start this is earlier than anybody does. If a young person is fourteen or over, it is not too early.
Early conversation
From age fourteen. Referrals come from social workers, schools, families and young people themselves.
Working out where things stand
What support exists now, what will end, what adult services will and will not provide, and what the gap actually is.
A plan the young person owns
Their goals, written in a way they can read and agreed with them rather than shown to them.
Across the birthday and beyond
Support continues through the change and afterwards, up to twenty five where it is needed.
How this is paid for
Funding usually changes at eighteen, which is one of the reasons transition is difficult. Before eighteen it comes through children services; afterwards through adult social care, and adult thresholds are frequently higher than families expect.
An adult social care assessment should happen before the eighteenth birthday, not after it. Care leavers have specific entitlements including a personal adviser and a pathway plan, and these are frequently under used. Ask about them by name.
Read the full guide to fundingWhat families ask us about this
When should transition planning start?
Around age fourteen, in year nine. In practice it frequently starts at seventeen and a half, which is why so many transitions arrive as a crisis. If a young person is fourteen or over and nothing has started, that is the thing to chase.
Will support just stop at eighteen?
It can, and that is exactly the problem. Adult services have different eligibility thresholds, so support provided automatically as a child may not be available as an adult. An adult assessment should be done before the birthday so this is known in advance rather than discovered afterwards.
Can the same workers continue?
That is what we aim for, and it is one of the strongest reasons to involve us early. Continuity of people across the change is worth more than any plan document.
How long can support continue?
Up to twenty five where it is needed. The transition into adult life takes years, not one birthday.
What is a pathway plan?
Care leavers are entitled to a pathway plan and a personal adviser from the local authority. Both are specific legal entitlements and both are frequently under used. Ask for them by name.
Can the young person be involved in the planning?
They should be at the centre of it. Plans written about a young person rather than with them do not survive contact with real life, and we support young people to take part in their own meetings.
Services that often go together
SEMH and Behavioural Support
Support for young people whose behaviour is telling everybody something that nobody has worked out yet.
Read moreSupported Living
Your own private room in a staffed house, and a structured route out of it towards living on your own terms.
Read moreRehabilitation Support
Support for people rebuilding a life after hospital, custody, homelessness or addiction, at the pace that actually works.
Read moreIs a young person you know approaching eighteen?
If planning has not started, start it now. Fourteen is not too early and seventeen and a half is too late.
Emergency placements are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.