Care Experienced Children and Young People funding: national operational guidance 2026/2027
Guidance to support local authorities plan how they will most effectively spend their Care Experienced Children and Young People funding.
What is this guidance for?
The term ‘care-experienced’ refers to anyone who has been or is currently in care or from a looked-after background at any stage in their life, no matter how short, including adopted children. This care may have been provided in one of many different settings such as in residential or secure care, foster care, kinship care, or through being looked-after at home with a supervision requirement.
The reason this guidance uses this term as opposed to the statutory term ‘Looked After Child’ is to ensure that this policy is inclusive and provides for all groups of young people who experience care and could benefit from this funding. This could include children and young people who are on the edges of care.1