FREE travel is to be provided to help young people leaving care across the Liverpool City Region. In Liverpool alone, around 700 people are leaving care between the ages of 18 and 25.

However, they face disadvantages in education and employment opportunities, simply based on their circumstances, which they did not choose. In a scheme supported by major transport operators, around 1,500 young people from across all six boroughs will benefit from free travel on bus, trains and ferries.

The programme will be open to care leavers aged between 18 and 21, and will allow passholders to more easily undertake work or training, as well as attend appointments, meet with friends and family and join in with leisure activities. In a bid to reframe the narrative around care leavers, Liverpool Council held a landmark conference at St George’s Hall last month in a bid to connect education, business and young people to provide greater opportunities.

The efforts have been led by Cllr Richard Kemp, Lord Mayor of Liverpool, during his period in office, and said the conference was an opportunity for the city to “reshape the destiny of our young people” who for too long had been depicted as “problems.” The Lord Mayor said care leavers are in fact “a resource for our city.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Young people leaving care in our region often face real difficulties settling into their new lives. We know that access to free travel can have a hugely positive impact on their ability to connect with opportunity.

“It allows care leavers to do things most of us take for granted – look for jobs, take part in education and training, connect with friends and family, even have the choice of where to shop.

“I’m pleased that, working with the support of transport operators across the region, we’re able to help these young people as they move forward with the next chapter of their lives.”

Cllr Marion Atkinson, leader of Sefton Council and cabinet member for employment, education and skills at Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said: “We are committed to helping care leavers get the best start to adult life and supporting them to achieve whatever they set their minds to. Some of these young people have faced a lot of adversity and it is our responsibility as corporate parents to ease their transition to adulthood and do what we can to remove the barriers they face.

“What better way to celebrate Care Leavers Week at the end of this month than giving our young people the freedom to move around with ease, connect with their community and pursue employment and education opportunities across our region.”