At King’s College London we recognise that any time spent in care can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes, and therefore provide pre-entry and on-course support to students who have spent any time in care. This can refer to time spent in local authority care in the UK, or time spent in care overseas before being adopted in the UK. King's support includes additional financial support and advice on accommodation, finances, and academic matters.

If you have been directed to this page after completing the care-based questions as part of your enrolment or re-enrolment, the below has instructions on how you can verify your care-experienced or care leaver status with us. You will be required to complete an online form and upload documentation.

If you have already been verified by King's as a care-experienced, you don't need to complete this task. Please note, this process is only applicable for current King's students.

In the form you will be asked if you are care-experienced or a care leaver. Care-experienced and care leaver students have the same entitlements at King’s. However, knowing this information helps us advise you in the best way possible, as care leavers can access more support from their local authority and third sector organisations. Our definitions of care-experienced and care leavers are below.

Care-experienced

Our definition of care-experienced is anyone who, at any stage in their life, for any length of time (no matter for how short a time period):

• Has been in care, or
• Is currently in care, or
• Is from a looked-after background, including adopted children who were previously looked-after. This could be looked after in the UK or Overseas

Individuals would need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for additional support:

• Under 25 at the start of your course
• Assessed as a home fee payer*
• Have lived in public care or as a looked-after child, including with foster carers under local authority care, in a residential children's home, or that have been adopted after being in care.

This does not refer to time spent in boarding schools, working in a care or healthcare setting, being admitted or detained in a healthcare setting under the mental health act, or if you are or have been a carer yourself.

*If you have been in care in the UK, but are not a home fee payer, please contact us to discuss this in greater detail.

Care Leaver

The term care leaver refers to anyone who has been in care or from a looked-after background, for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14, and was in care on their 16th birthday.

Individuals would need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for additional support:

• Under 25 at the start of your course
• Assessed as a home fee payer*
• Have lived in public care or as a looked-after child, including with foster carers under local authority care or in a residential children's home

*If you have been in care in the UK, but are not a home fee payer, please contact us to discuss this in greater detail.

Evidence needed

You will be required to submit evidence to show that you meet this status. The below outlines what you will need to complete this process.

Care leaver

If you are a care leaver, you should ask your Personal Advisor or Social Worker to confirm that you are a statutory care leaver. Ask them for a letter on headed paper including details about the support they will provide for you while you are at university.

If you do not have a personal adviser or social worker, you can contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you spent time in care.

You will also be asked to provide your notification of entitlement letter from student finance. This will help us ensure you are receiving the correct amount of maintenance loan.

Care-experienced

A letter on headed paper from the local authority where you spent time in care. This letter needs to confirm that you have spent time in care.

If you do not have this letter already, you should contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you spent time in care.

You will also be asked to provide your notification of entitlement letter from student finance. This will help us ensure you are receiving the correct amount of maintenance loan.

Next steps

1. Read this guidance prior to completing the online form
2. Complete this online form.

After you have completed the online form, you will be notified with whether your status has been verified.

If you are unsure about whether you meet the definition for care-experienced or care leaver, please contact us to discuss this via advice@kcl.ac.uk, putting 'verification' in the subject header.

Disclosing care-experienced status as part of your UCAS application

In order to access the support available, we strongly encourage students to disclose that they have been in care. The easiest way of doing this is through their UCAS application. UCAS have put together a really useful video explaining how to disclose your care-experience on the application form, as well as the benefits of doing so. 

This information can be used in providing context when making admissions decisions but also ensures we provide the right financial, academic, and personal support.  We do not need to know why a student has been in care or any other detail and we do understand that some students see university as a new start and may be reluctant to let the university know. However, this information will never be used against a student.  To disclose their care-experienced status students should: 

• Tick the Care Leaver box on the UCAS application form 
• Say they are care-experienced on their personal statement 
• Ensure the teacher reference gives additional information and provides context 
• If needed fill in a mitigating circumstances form with admissions.

King’s College London recognises the challenges faced by care-experienced students. We offer extensive support before they start at university. 

Pre university events

Long term programmes

King’s College London Widening Participation department prioritised care-experienced learners on long-term pre-university programmes. To learn more about long-term programmes run by King's Widening Participation department, visit our projects for prospective students webpages.

One-off events

• Campus Tours

King’s is pleased to offer guided campus tours of four of our five campuses. Visit us to find out more about King’s, our world-class teaching and research, outstanding facilities and excellent student experience.

• Open days

We have open days which give students the opportunity to visit the university, find our more about our courses and speak to current students.

Application Support

King's College London has a designated member of staff (pre-entry), who can assist care-experienced students with all aspects of the application process: you can talk about course choices, receive feedback on a draft personal statement, tips on interviews as well as guidance on King's other support services e.g. student funding or the disability services.

For more information please contact us on priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk.

Disclosing care-experienced status as part of your UCAS application

In order to access the support available, we strongly encourage students to disclose that they have been in care. The easiest way of doing this is through their UCAS application. UCAS have put together a really useful video explaining how to disclose your care-experience on the application form, as well as the benefits of doing so. 

This information can be used in providing context when making admissions decisions but also ensures we provide the right financial, academic, and personal support.  We do not need to know why a student has been in care or any other detail and we do understand that some students see university as a new start and may be reluctant to let the university know. However, this information will never be used against a student.  To disclose their care-experienced status students should: 

• Tick the Care Leaver box on the UCAS application form 

• Say they are care-experienced on their personal statement 

• Ensure the teacher reference gives additional information and provides context 

• If needed fill in a mitigating circumstances form with admissions.

Additional admissions consideration for care-experienced applicants

If you are care-experienced and applying to study at King’s, we strongly advise you to disclose this on your UCAS application form. This will allow admissions staff to take your circumstances into consideration and will not have a negative impact on your application. 

We use this data to holistically assess an applicant’s future potential to succeed and to differentiate between similar highly qualified candidates.

As a care-experienced student, you will receive additional consideration. Examples of the ways in which additional consideration is given are described below:

• Students whose predicted grades are marginally lower than that required for the course may be given an offer.

• Students whose application is considered as being close to the standard required to gain an interview may be offered an interview.

• Students whose admissions test score is considered as being close to the required standard might be given an offer or interview.

• Students who narrowly fail to meet their conditional offer will be given additional consideration as to whether their place should be confirmed.

Depending on the course applied for and the qualifications you are studying, you may receive a reduced offer for your course.

Starting university is a very exciting time but it can also be a bit overwhelming. King's College London recognises that it can be particularly daunting if you have come from a care background or if you have a challenging home situation so we have a lot of support to help you make the move successfully.

Financial Support

King's offers several bursaries which care-experienced from the UK are eligible for:

Care-experienced and Estranged Student Bursary

Worth up to £1,000 per year, is available for students who are under 25 when enrolling and have experience of local authority care. 

King's Living Bursary

Open to every full-time home first degree student who has been means-tested with a final income assessment of £42,641. The bursary is worth up to £1,600 a year.

King's Student Fund

This support is a limited discretionary fund to assist students on low incomes who may need extra financial support for their course and to stay in higher education. To check if you are eligible to apply, please visit our Student Funding page.

Accommodation Support

52-week accommodation

We appreciate that accommodation is often a concern for many students who have been in care and so we offer 52-week lets (all year round, including summer months) accommodation for all care-experienced students. You will have to notify residences that you would like to stay for 52 weeks as this is only available in selected halls of residence. For more information on accommodation at King's College London visit the Student Residences homepage.

King's Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS)

Care-experienced students are also eligible for the King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS) in which accommodation is capped at £169 per week. For more information on KAAS, visit  the rents and affordability page.

Academic Support

All students are allocated a Personal Tutor from within their Department or School.  Care-experienced students also have access to a Senior Tutor who will act as a consistent tutor throughout their time at King's and give further support with academic work if required.

Careers Support

Our Career Advisory team can help you with getting a part time job, internship and graduate opportunities, as well as gaining employability skills.

Care-experienced students are eligible to access Careers+ which can provide you with:

• Longer Careers Guidance appointments including via Skype and phone (30 minutes)
• Advance booking for Careers Guidance appointments (two weeks in advance)
• Exclusive internship opportunities
• Termly newsletters
• Drop in sessions with a Careers Consultant
• Exclusive workshops (including online sessions)

Sign up on King’s Career Connect.

Personal Support

Advice and Guidance Team

The Advice and Guidance team can help with queries about accommodation and finances. Current students can contact them via advice@kcl.ac.uk

Mental Health

Additionally, the wellbeing team offers Counselling and Mental Health Support for all undergraduate students. Counselling offers a safe, confidential, and supportive space, to help you to explore your problems, share and gain insight into your feelings, thoughts and behaviour. The service is free and confidential

Please read these webpages for more information on mental health support from Togetherall

Care-experienced and Estranged Student Network

KCL Car.es is a network for care experienced and estranged students focused on creating a safe place for all care experienced and students who identify as estranged. This is a community where these students can feel visible and empowered. Follow their Instagram @kcl_car.es to find out about upcoming events.

First term at King's

We recognise that the first term is particularly important in transitioning to university study. There are a series of bespoke events and programmes to help navigate this period.

Bespoke Induction 

We host a social welcoming event at the beginning of September where you will have the opportunity to hear from different Support Services and connect with people from widening participation backgrounds. 

Care-experienced and Estranged Welcome event

We host a welcome event at the start of term where care-experienced students have the opportunity to meet other care-experienced students.

If you are verified as care-experienced by King’s, you will be contacted with your personal invite to these events.

The Buddy Scheme

The Buddy Scheme is organised by the King’s College London Students’ Union to help incoming Widening Participation students form friendships and find communities by matching them up with experienced undergraduates. Buddy Mentors are there to answer their questions and signpost to useful resources. Everyone on the scheme can choose whether or not they’d like to be matched based on shared interests and/or experiences. In built into the scheme are regular virtual events for Buddy Mentors and Mentees to connect with one another and meet others on the scheme.

For more information on the scheme email outreach@kclsu.org

Or visit this webpage to find out more about the Buddy Scheme and sign up.

King's College London and the Widening Participation Department work closely with care experienced students and their advisors and teachers. If you are working with a looked after child who is considering applying to university or if you would like more information about the support available please contact our Designated Member of Staff for care-experienced students: Helena Jarrold at priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk

Applying to University

We can support care experienced students with their application to university and will provide unbiased advice and guidance to ensure they choose the right university and course for them. We can also provide personal statement guidance to students.

Visit Days

King's College London can organise free bespoke visit days for looked after children at any age which we can design to suit their needs. A typical day will involve a university tour, meeting care experienced student ambassadors and hearing about the support that is available to them.

Disclosing care-experienced status

In order to access the support available we strongly encourage students to disclose that they have been in care and any extenuating circumstances. For more information on mitigating circumstances and the process please visit: mitigating circumstances and the admissions process.

Learn more about disclosing care-experienced status at the top this webpage.

Supporting students moving to university

Moving to university is a big change for anyone and we recognise that for some people it can be even more daunting. We provide a specialised and bespoke transition for care experienced students and run 'Welcome' events before term starts. We also arrange a buddy programme where second year student’s are paired with new students and act as another welcoming face and can answer any questions they may have. In order to make the move as smooth as possible we recommend that students be proactive and meet with specialist advisors if they have any specific worries before they start. For any more information or to discuss how we can best support your student please get in touch.

Find out more about projects and further information for teachers on our Teachers, Advisors & Governors webpage.

Below you'll find a list of useful links where you can find more information about support and advice for care leavers:

• The Unite Group Accommodation: the Foundation provides free student accommodation and an annual scholarship to young people in the UK who aspire to a degree, but face the most challenging circumstances
• Become (former The Who Cares Trust): This charity provides help, support and advice to children in care and young care leavers 
• Propel: the information portal of Become for care leavers transitioning into higher education – useful resources about financial support, different courses and application to HE institutions 
• The Catch 22 National Care Advisory Service (NCAS): delivers holistic support to looked after children and care leavers through their nationwide network 
• The Rees Foundation:  this charity supports young people and adults with foster care and residential care experience, they provide mentoring and a network for people with care background 
• NNECL: National Network for Education of Care Leavers, provides Higher Education Activities and Resources for Care Leavers, Children in Care and Those Who Support Them 
• Student Finance for Independent students: comprehensive guidance on applying for finances for care leavers

If you have any further queries at all, please don't hesitate to contact us via email at priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk.