Allowances and assistance for care leavers

Following an assessment and whilst open to our service, we can pay travel costs up to 3 times a year to keep in touch with the important people in your life who:

• live outside of West Sussex
• your social worker arranged contact with when you were in care and under the age of 18

We can provide this until you are 21 years old.

Travel must be via the cheapest route available and booked via the travel portal or by P card.

There is an annual £50 cultural allowance to enable you to get things you need to meet and practice your religion or cultural beliefs, such as:

• books
• prayer mats
• clothing
• attendance at religious
  • festivals
  • services
  • ceremonies
  • events
• attending a wedding, funeral or christening

You can get this allowance whilst you are open to a personal advisor (PA) until you are 25 years old.

We are keen to support you. If you think of something that you need that we have not included, just talk to your PA.

We provide help to get identification documents. Your PA will arrange payment to government sites for ID.

You must keep these documents safe as we do not fund replacements.

Birth certificate

If your birth certificate was not issued to you when you were under 18, we can provide one for you.

Driving licence

See the driving and motorcycle lessons information below. 

Passport

Whilst you are under 18, your social worker should help you to get your passport.

If your first passport was issued to you by your social worker when you were 17 or under, we can fund a renewal for you.

Talk to your PA if you have any questions.

Other travel documents

If you are unable to get a passport, we will fund a Certificate of Travel or Refugee Travel Certificate and a renewal, if you need it, up to 4 years after your 18th birthday.

Contact your PA if you have any questions.

We will fund travel to home office appointments if you need to attend them. We do this while you are entitled to our service, up until you are 25 years of age.

Your PA will arrange this through the travel portal. They will book the cheapest form of travel available.

For care leavers who are in custody, we provide an allowance of £25 per month until the age of 25.

If you are legally able to learn to drive we can financially support you. You choose whether you'd like to choose car or motorcycle lessons. You can access this offer if you are:

• under 25 years of age
• entitled to the full care leavers service

What we cover

We will fund:

• your provisional driving licence
• up to 15 lessons driving lessons
• You pay for 5 and we will pay for 5 lots of 1-hour lessons alternately. For example, we will match the number of lessons you purchase up to a maximum of 15 hours. You pay for 5 hours then we would also pay for 5 hours.
• Compulsory basic training course (bike training course) up to £200
• Module 1 & 2 motorcycle test fees (plus one retake)
• your theory test (plus one retake)
• your driving test (plus one retake)
• full licence once you have passed your test

What you need to do to access this offer

You will need to check that you are legally able to drive or ride. You can do this on the GOV.UK website as below:

• Learn to drive a car
• Riding a motorcycle, moped or motor tricycle

For under 18 year olds

Speak to your social worker.

For over 18 year olds

Speak to your PA.

If you are closed to the leaving care service

Call the duty line. For the phone number, see our contact us page.

We are offering you access to a new lifestyle savings benefit. You can access a huge range of discounts across the UK’s major retailers, including supermarkets, technology, fashion, travel and much more!

You can access this through the West Sussex staff discounts platform, called Vivup.

At the time of writing you could save:

• 5% off groceries at Morrisons and Sainsbury’s
• 4% at Tesco, Asda and Waitrose
• 7% at Marks and Spencer stores
• 7% savings at Currys
• 5% off your DIY essentials at B&Q
• on fashion including 5% off Boohoo, 9% off ASOS,7% off River Island and 10% off New Look
• on sportswear with 7% off Nike, 10% off Footlocker and 4% off Sports Direct

Note that savings and offers are subject to change. Terms and conditions apply for all third parties.

Eligibility

• a West Sussex care leaver
• between 18 and under 25 years old.

How to access this offer

You will need to register to use this offer, which requires your MOSAIC number. Contact your PA or the duty line if you don't know it.

Follow these steps to register with the Vivup platform:

1. Go to westsussexchoices.vivup.co.uk
2. Click on Register
3. Select “West Sussex County Council – Carers / Care Leavers”
4. Complete your registration details including your MOSAIC number
5. Accept the terms and conditions
6. Click Next

If you experience any registration issues you can contact the Vivup customer services team.

Vivup customer service team contact details

The team are available:

• Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 7.00pm by phone or email
• Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00am to 2.00pm by email

You can contact them by:

• Phone: 01252 784540
• Email: customersupport@vivup.co.uk

If you are a West Sussex care leaver entitled to a full care leavers service and aged between 19 and under 25 years of age, you are entitled to a yearly £100 clothing voucher. You will receive this on or around your birthday. If you are open to the service, you can request to divide the payments to receive 2 lots of £50.

You can have the voucher from a retailer of your choice, as long as it is a clothing store, not a supermarket.

Speak to your PA to access this offer. We will get in touch on or around your birthday if you are closed to our service.

We want to recognise important occasions in your life.

Festive gathering gift

Once a year we will give you a gift relating to a festive gathering in your culture. We do this while you are open to the service and up to the age of 25, The gift will be available up to a cost of £20.

Birthday gift

You can choose to receive a birthday gift, up to the value of £20. You can get this while you are open to a PA and up until your 25th birthday.

Corporate grandparent gift

Whilst you are open to our service, your PA will give your child a gift for their birth, birthday, or festive gathering. This will happen on or around your child's celebration until you are 25 years of age,