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Care Leavers

Am I a care leaver?  

At Northumbria, we define a care leaver as a young person under the age of 25 who has:

  • 'Former relevant care leaver status' according to the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. This status applies to people under the age of 25 who were 'looked after' by the local authority for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and ending after the age of 16.
  • Been privately fostered up to the age of 18 – this arrangement must be for more than a two-month period.
  • Been the subject of a 'special guardianship order', 'kinships fostering' and were 'looked after' immediately prior to the making of the order. 

What support is available?  

Pre Entry Support   

Care Leavers are likely to be eligible for a contextual offer and one of our Supported Entry Schemes to help you get here and prepare for Northumbria, to find out more please visit the webpages below:  

Application Support/Guidance for Offer Holders  

  • If you need assistance in applying for a course at Northumbria, please contact Applicant Services who will be happy to assist.  

Financial Support  

  • Eligible students can receive up to £2,000 per year through our NU Belong Fund. 

Academic Support  

  • Support with Short Extensions (SE) on your assignments or Personal Extenuating Circumstances (PEC) which affect your assessments.

Wellbeing and Wider Support  

  • One-to-one appointments with a dedicated student adviser.  
  • Monthly Newsletter with updates on support and events   
  • Connections to wellbeing, mental health, accessibility and careers support.  
  • Connections and referrals to relevant external support  

Accommodation Support   

We know that finding safe, stable accommodation can be particularly challenging for care leaver students, especially during university holidays.  

Northumbria University offers Care Leavers University accommodation on a 52-week basis at the same cost for the normal letting period for that residence. Please note that this only applies to specific university owned accommodation. This will not apply to privately provided accommodation or any of our nominated accommodation outlets.  

Please contact us for further details- we can help explore your options and connect you with the right support.  

Frequently asked questions

To access support from NU Belong you will need to attend an appointment with a student adviser. During this appointment they will chat through all the support that is available to you and answer any questions that you may have.

If you are unsure if you qualify for care leaver support, or have any questions about the support available, please get in touch via our enquiry form.

 


Yes, and we can provide general information to them. However, if you would like us to be able to discuss you specifically then we will need written confirmation of your consent for us to share. Please contact us to arrange this. 

If you have any queries that have not been answered on our web pages, you can contact us by selecting either of the options below.   


Yes, there are a range of external resources which may be useful:

Page last updated 30/07/26

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