The Leicestershire Cares’ Joining Up Joining In (JUJI) project, funded by the Blagrave Trust, is celebrating the County Council’s decision to treat “Care Experience” as a protected characteristic, after their lead member for children and young people met with our peer researchers about this issue.

Councillor Taylor brought a motion to the full County Council meeting on Wednesday 21st February. She gave a passionate speech in introducing it and this was followed by other speeches of support from council members across the chamber and then a unanimous vote in favour. The county council has become the 81st local authority in the country to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic.

This is a fantastic achievement for our young people and an excellent example of our Power to Change model working in practice. Our JUJI peer researchers developed skills and knowledge (their “Power Within”) on the debate around making care experience a protected characteristic by gathering insights from local care experienced young people and professionals on this issue. They produced a report calling for all three local authorities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to treat care experience as a protected characteristic.

They then built the connections needed to make change happen (“Power With”) by working with the comms team at Learning and Work Institute and meeting Terry Galloway, lead campaigner for the Care Leaver Local Offer and a strong advocate for encouraging councils to make this decision nationally. Following this, they invited Councillor Deborah Taylor, lead member for children and Young People at Leicestershire County Council, to meet with them and explained why this issue is so important to them and for care experienced people living in the county.

The group then worked with Councillor Taylor and other local partners to create the change they wanted to see locally (“Power To”). This included the County Council’s own Care Leavers’ Council.

The group then worked with Councillor Taylor and other local partners to create the change they wanted to see locally (“Power To”). This included the County Council’s own Care Leavers’ Council

The group then worked with Councillor Taylor and other local partners to create the change they wanted to see locally (“Power To”). This included the County Council’s own Care Leavers’ Council

Thank you, Deborah Taylor, for listening to get care experienced recognised as a protected characteristic. This will have a big impact on the lives of care experienced young people to prevent discrimination and create more opportunities.

Peer Researcher

Hi Deborah Thank you so much for what you guys at Leicestershire Council have done for care experienced young people. What you’ve done is allowed care experienced people to get their voice heard and no longer feel scared to try to get a job or housing.

Peer Researcher

Hi Deborah. Thank you for helping get care experience as a protected characteristic. It was really nice working with you and see your passion for this cause and we hope we can continue to work with you to get other councils on board.

Peer Researcher

You can read Deborah’s motion here (Item 9)

Thank you Deborah Taylor!

Here you can find a video created by our peer researchers to say ‘Thank you!’

To get involved in our Joining Up Joining In Project at Leicestershire Cares please contact

Aidan – Aidan@Leicestershirecares.co.uk

Paul- Paul@Leicestershirecares.co.uk

Krish – Krishna@Leicestershirecares.co.uk

Should Care Experience be a Protected Characteristic | Leicestershire Cares

Joining Up Joining In- Councillor Deborah Taylor | Leicestershire Cares

This piece was originally published at https://www.leicestershirecares.co.uk/about-charity/news-events-/joining-joining-leicestershire-county-council-agrees-make-care-experience-protected-characteristic/ and is reprinted here with permission from Leicestershire Cares