Care Leaver Internship Scheme details

FOI ref: FOI-2024-2480

You asked

I hope this request finds you well. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting information about the Care Leaver Internship Scheme (CLIS) as it pertains to your department. Specifically, I would like to request the following:

1. How many Care Leavers has your department recruited through the CLIS since its launch?
2. Could you provide a breakdown of these hires by year, location (including Darlington Economic Campus (DEC)), and grade?
3. Does your department track the outcomes of Care Leaver interns? For instance, how many interns secure permanent roles within your department, transfer to other government departments, or do not pass probation?
4. Is there a formal mechanism for tracking these outcomes, and if so, could you provide relevant documents or data?
5. What efforts does your department make to promote the scheme to hiring managers, particularly for AO/EO positions?
6. Are there specific business units or professions within your department that are targeted for recruiting CLIS participants?
7. Does your department have guidance for managers on how to support Care Leavers during and after their internships?
8. Are there tailored onboarding or clearance processes for new hires with care experience? For example: a. Addressing potential delays caused by long lists of prior addresses. b. Support for answering mandatory security questions, particularly for those without family connections or knowledge of who their family members are, leading to issues and delays for clearance.
9. Has your department established any soft recruitment targets for Care Leaver hires, either internally or in collaboration with the Darlington Economic Campus?
10. Are Care Leavers included as a target group in broader diversity, inclusion, and recruitment strategies (e.g., guaranteed interviews, fast-track options, entry requirement adjustments (for instance not requiring a degree) or score uplifts)?
11. Does your department work collaboratively with other government departments or local authorities to promote the scheme? If so, could you share any relevant documentation or strategies?
12. Does your department collect data on the number of employees with care experience? If so, could you share any anonymised statistics or trends?
13. Who within your department is currently responsible for overseeing the Care Leaver Internship Scheme, and could you provide their contact details?

We said

Thank you for your request.

1. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recruits care leavers through the Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) scheme delivered by the Cabinet Office and not the Civil Service Care Leavers Internship Scheme (CLIS), which is delivered by the Department for Education (DfE).

2. Care leavers via the GFiE scheme (to date) have been recruited to our sites in Newport and Titchfield. Please see the associated download.

3. Please see the associated download in response.

4. No formal mechanism is in place, only a record of intern status to date.

5. Hiring managers are required to consider all available resourcing routes and candidate pipelines. This includes entry talent schemes such as Care Leavers through GFiE, prior to advertising the vacancy.

6. Hiring managers across all professions are required to consider all GFiE routes, particularly where the role does not require specialist skills, typically at AO and EO level.

7. During their internship, there is guidance available to support managers.

8. Care leavers will follow the established on-boarding process due to the strict nature of security vetting. However, additional support is also available, from our People Operations colleagues, where candidates need additional assistance in completing the security clearance process. Typically, this may be alongside any social worker/relevant support worker.

9. The ONS has not established any soft recruitment targets for care leaver hires, either internally or in collaboration with the Darlington Economic Campus.

10. All our recruitment campaigns are open to anyone with the required skills and experience. However, for specific GFiE Care Leavers campaigns, we do not expect technical skills or experience, just a willingness to learn and the right aptitude. The recruitment process is simplified, involving informal chats with applicants, instead of a full interview or assessment process. We have the opportunity to make GFiE Care Leavers permanent at the end of their fixed term appointment, providing certain eligibility criteria are met.

11. Recruitment for the Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) scheme is managed by the Cabinet Office, which advertises opportunities on our behalf by leveraging regional connections specific to each opportunity.

12. The ONS does not collect this data on it's employees.

13. The Entry Talent Team within the ONS, lead on all GFiE recruitment. Their contact details are entry.talent@ons.gov.uk.