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Student 2019/20 - Care leaver / Looked after status

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Student 2019/20

Fields required from institutions in All fields

Care leaver / Looked after status


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valid entries
Typefield
Short nameCARELEAVER
Description

The fields records whether a student is a care leaver.

Applicable toEngland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Coverage

All instances at providers in England where ((Instance.REDUCEDI = 00 or 01) and (Instance.FUNDCODE = 1 or 7)) and (Course.COURSEAIM begins with H, I, J, C or is M22, M26, M28, M71, M73 or M88, excluding H50, H60, H61, H62, H78, H81, I60, I61 or I81) and Instance.COMDATE > 2013-07-31) and (Instance.EXCHANGE is N, Y or null) and Course.TTCID is not F.

All instances at providers in England where Instance.REDUCEDI = 08 and (Course.COURSEAIM begins with H, I, J, C or is M22, M26, M28, M71, M73 or M88, excluding H50, H60, H61, H62, H78, H81, I60, I61 or I81) and Course.MSFUND not equal to 37.

All instances at providers in Scotland where (Instance.REDUCEDI = 00, 01 or 04) and (EntryProfile.DOMICILE = XF, XG, XH, XI or XK) and (Course.COURSEAIM begins with H, I, J, C or is M22, M26, M28, or M88) and Instance.COMDATE > 2013-07-31.

All instances at providers in Wales where (Instance.REDUCEDI = 00 or 04) and EntryProfile.UCASAPPID exists and (Course.COURSEAIM begins with H, I, J, C or is M22, M26, M28, M71, M73 or M88) and Instance.COMDATE > 2013-07-31 and < 2014-08-01.

All instances at providers in Wales where (Instance.REDUCEDI = 00 or 04) and EntryProfile.DOMICILE = XL, XK, XI, XH, XG, XF, IM, GG, JE, AT, AX, BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, EU, FI, FR, GF, GI, GP, GR, HR, HU, IC, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MQ, MT, NL, PL, PT, RE, RO, SE, SI, SK, XA, XC or YT) and Instance.COMDATE > 2014-07-31.

All instances at providers in Northern Ireland where (Instance.REDUCEDI = 00, 01 or 04) and EntryProfile.UCASAPPID exists and (Course.COURSEAIM begins with H, I, J, C or is M22, M26, M28, M71, M73 or M88) and Instance.COMDATE > 2013-07-31.

Valid entries and labels
CodeLabel
01Care leaver (16+)
02Looked after in Scotland
03In care in the rest of UK
04UCAS defined care leaver
05Not a care leaver
98Information refused
99Not known
Notes

For students entering through UCAS this information will be available from UCAS via the UCAS data for HESA (*J) transaction.

For providers in England, this field must be completed for all Home/EU undergraduate and PGCE students. Providers recording care leavers for internal purposes (i.e. as part of their Office for Students Access Agreement) must use code 01 where applicable. However providers where this is not the case should complete this field using data supplied through the UCAS Data for HESA (*J) transaction. Only codes 01, 04, 05, 98 or 99 may be used.

If a provider resubmits an Entry Profile for a continuing student who is coded as Instance.REDUCEDI = 04 (dormant), Instance.CARELEAVER must be resubmitted where relevant. These should be students who were coded as Instance.FUNDCODE 1 or 7 in a previous year, but providers are not required to submit Instance.FUNDCODE in the year the student is dormant.

For providers in Scotland, this field must be completed for UK domiciled undergraduate students. Providers are encouraged to collect this information at enrolment and to use codes 02 and 03 when applicable. Code 04 can be used when providers are relying on *J for the information. Only codes 02, 03, 04, 05, 98 or 99 may be used.

For providers in Wales, this field must be completed for all Home and EU domiciled students, including non-UCAS entrants. Only codes 04, 05 or 99 may be used.

For providers in Northern Ireland, this field must be completed for undergraduate students that enter through UCAS. This field must be completed using data supplied through the UCAS Data for HESA (*J) transaction. Only codes 04, 05 or 99 may be used. DfE(NI) require this data for all UK-domiciled undergraduate students, including non-UCAS entrants.

It will be assumed that any student returned as Instance.REDUCEDI = 01, will not be an incoming / exchange or visiting student.

Definitions of a care leaver / looked after status

Office for Students have defined the circumstances of being in care as being where '...a local authority / Health and Social Care Trust has obligations to provide for, or share, the care of a child or young person under 16 years of age where parent(s) or guardian(s) for whatever reason are prevented from providing them with a suitable accommodation or care. A child is 'looked after' if he or she is provided with accommodation or if they are subject to certain provision imposed by the system.'

01 Care leaver (16+) (England only): includes all students who can be reasonably verified as having being in care on or after their 16th birthday. For example this may have been verified by talking to the student personally, by email correspondence or as a result of assessing their eligibility for financial support. This only need be established once by a member of staff at the provider, preferably at the point of the student's entry. The provider must have reason above and beyond the information given on the student's UCAS form to identify them as code 01 'Care leaver (16+)'.

02 Looked after in Scotland (Scotland only): includes all students who can be reasonably verified as currently being looked after by a local authority or having been looked after by a local authority between the ages of 0 -18. To be 'looked after' means either:

  • Provided with accommodation by a local authority (for example, in foster care, kinship care, a residential school, secure unit or children's home, either on a voluntary basis or by means of a legal process, normally a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing in Scotland; or
  • Subject of a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing in Scotland while living in the family home.

03 In care in the rest of UK (Scotland only): includes anyone who has spent any time up to the age of 18 in the care of a local authority in England or Wales or Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.

04 UCAS defined care leaver: self-declared as in care for 3 months or more. This code may be used for non-UCAS entrants if they meet that definition.

For providers in England and Scotland, it is reasonable to expect that a student could fall into any of the first four categories. In this case codes 01 (for England) and 02 or 03 (for Scotland) take priority over code 04.

Quality rules
Quality rules relating to this entity are displayed here.
Reason required To allow Office for Students to calculate the population of Widening Participation students in England. To monitor participation in higher education of people who have been looked after in Scotland. To allow HEFCW to monitor participation in Higher Education of care leavers in Wales. To allow DfE(NI) to monitor participation in Higher Education of care leavers in Northern Ireland.
Part of
Field length2
Minimum occurrences0
Maximum occurrences1
Schema components
Element: CARELEAVER
OwnerHESA
Version1.0

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