Up to 2,000 care leavers and other young people who have had disrupted education will receive extra support to achieve A-levels or equivalent qualifications, under yesterday's welfare reform green paper.
Under the plans, young people with disrupted schooling will be able to study full-time for A-levels while drawing income support until they are aged 21, up from the current 20. The government claims this will enable most of them to finish their courses.
Of those in this category, who will have fallen two to three years behind at school, 30% are not in education, employment and training at age 19, compared to 13% of young people in general, while just 56% have at least one GCSE, compared to 96% of all young people.
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