Children’s social care
We deliver holistic support to looked after children and care leavers to improve their life chances, alongside promoting best practice within the sector.
Our services
Children’s homes
Our children's homes enable children in care to have the same opportunities as everyone else, using a social pedagogy approach that focuses on relationships and education.
Care leavers
Care leavers
Our services support young people leaving care as they transition to independence, to ensure that they have the same opportunities as other young people.
In the last year:
100%
100% of local authorities surveyed would recommend membership of the NLCBF to other local authorities.
92%
92% of our service users reported that their mental health had improved.
39
2 new services supporting care experienced young people into work were launched.
Frequently asked questions
How do Catch22's services help to reduce admissions into care?
We offer intensive, short-term support to families in crisis, de-escalating crisis situations, liaising across services and delivering appropriate levels of monitoring and intervention to ensure children and young people are safeguarded. This intensive support in emergency situations helps to prevent, where appropriate, admission into care.
Does Catch22 help young people leaving care to foster independence?
Our supported and supportive accommodation services for care leavers help them to secure tenancies and address issues preventing them from living independently. As well as receiving practical housing and budgeting support, they are enabled to feel safe, secure, valued in their community and confident in their ability to manage the practicalities of life.
Is Catch22 able to support looked after children or care leavers through its other services?
Yes – through many of our services, we touch the lives of those whom have been in care and we tailor our support for looked after children and care leavers, offering practical and sustainable ways to improve their life chances.
For example:
- Our leaving care services support the transition to independence to ensure care leavers have the same opportunities as other young people and to prevent the negative impact caused by a lack of suitable housing, employment or emotional support.
- Looked after children in our alternative education provision are supported with individual plans, with schools offering strategies and a designated member of staff to support them.
- Our justice provision supports those who become involved in gangs towards positive lifestyle choices and behaviours.
How does Catch22 influence best practice within the children's social care sector?
Catch22 runs the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF), the largest membership forum specialising in leaving care in the UK, with an active membership of over 125 local authorities in England and Northern Ireland. The forum shares best practice and promotes the voice of care leavers through the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum.
I loved meeting other care leavers face-to-face. It was nice to be in a room full of young people with similar experiences – I felt really connected to everyone and that it was a safe space to share.
Mitch, care experienced young person
Latest news and resources
Resources are listed chronologically.
Please use these arrows to see more.
24 May 2024
Camden Young People’s Mediation and Restorative Service: Annual report 2023-2024
17 Apr 2024
The 4th P – Social Pedagogy in Children’s Social Care
11 Apr 2024
Propel: Candidate guide
15 Nov 2023
Care Leavers: Keeping the momentum up
2 Nov 2023
Care experienced - should it be the tenth protected characteristic?
25 Oct 2023
Why early action holds the key to breaking the prison/reoffending cycle
25 Sep 2023
Catch22 and John Lewis Foundation launch new programme
20 Sep 2023
Why frontline voices are critical to the policy making process
18 Sep 2023
Catch22 Manifesto: Reimagining public services
2 Aug 2023
In their own words: care experienced young people ask for change
8 Feb 2023
Catch22 responds to the Children’s Social Care Strategy
16 Jan 2023
“Survival is not easy”
15 Dec 2022
Criminalisation of children and young people in care
16 Nov 2022
NLCBF attend the “Shaping Leaving Care” conference in Berlin
21 Sep 2022
NLCBF: Annual report 2021-2022
1 Sep 2022
National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum: Transitional safeguarding resource sheet
15 Aug 2022
The impact of the cost of living crisis on care experienced young people
10 Aug 2022
Setting the agenda
16 Jun 2022
Designing a peer learning programme with NLCBF
24 May 2022
Care leavers call for care experience to be made Protected Characteristic
17 May 2022
Increasing employment opportunities for young people with care experience
1 Apr 2022
Care leavers set for grave financial struggles as cost of living soars
25 Feb 2022
Bright lights and warm relationships: scaling support for care leavers
26 Jan 2022
Care experience and post-18 mental health
2 Dec 2021
Benefits of being part of NLCBF
29 Nov 2021
Catch22 scoops national Children & Young People Now and ERSA awards
13 Sep 2021
A care system which adapts to the changing needs of a young person
16 Jul 2021
NLCBF: Impact of Universal Credit uplift
17 Jun 2021
Catch22 responds to The Case for Change report
7 Jun 2021
Child vulnerability: what will make a difference?
26 May 2021
NLCBF: Annual report 2020-2021
20 May 2021
‘Digital Passport’ to address online risks faced by children in care
26 Apr 2021
Karl’s experience with Bright Light
23 Apr 2021
NLCBF responds to call for evidence on “Children’s Homes”
15 Jan 2021
Catch22 responds to announcement of Independent Review into Children’s Social Care
13 Jan 2021
Young People and Families: Annual Review 2019-2020
7 Jan 2021
Supporting care leavers into apprenticeships
29 Sep 2020
Thousands of care leavers facing digital poverty
9 Jul 2020
NLCBF: Annual report 2019-2020
28 May 2020
Catch22 responds to call for evidence on “Reforms to unregulated provision"
2 Apr 2020
FACT22: Improving outcomes for children in need
29 Nov 2019
Catch22 joins call to put young people at the heart of General Election
14 Nov 2019
NLCBF release toolkit for Local Authorities
13 Nov 2019
Understanding the ‘Local Offer’ available to care leavers
29 Oct 2019
Catch22 hosts Care Leavers’ Week celebrations
27 Sep 2019
CEO Chris Wright attends 30th Euromet Symposium
9 Jul 2019
Care leavers in parliament
7 Mar 2019
The innovator revolutionising children’s care in the UK
30 Jan 2019
NLCBF responds to inquiry into “Children in care and financial education”
18 Jan 2019
“Is that good enough for my child?”
16 Feb 2018
Care leavers are still growing up
22 Nov 2017
Celebrating the work of the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum
31 Oct 2017
Why education needs to be at the heart of the care system
30 Oct 2017
Top tips for co-creating with young people
30 Oct 2017
Being more human
18 May 2017
Children’s social care pilot, FACT22, wins national recognition
Contact our children's social care teams
Kate Wareham
Strategic Director of Young People, Families and Communities
Talk to us about how, together, we can support more care-experienced young people.
We would love to hear from you if you are
- a young person with care experience, or
- a potential partner looking to work with us on future projects or programmes.
Email Address
ypf@catch-22.org.ukPrivacy notice
How we manage your data
Catch22 Charity Ltd. manages the data you provide in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- The Data Controller (the organisation that determines how your data is managed) is Catch22. Contact us if you have a query about how your data is managed.
- The Data Processor (the organisation that does data processing on behalf of Catch22) is Totally.Tech.
- We are committed to giving you (the Data Subject in legal terms) an easy way to exercise your eight rights under the GDPR.
- We retain your data for as long as you allow us to do so. You can exercise your right to erasure at any time however, there may be some instances where we need to retain your information for a longer duration for legal reasons, such as when applying for a job with Catch22.
What information do we collect?
Catch22 may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data:
- information about your computer and your visits to and use of this website, including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views (cookies),
- information that you provide to us for the purpose of applying for a job or receiving job alerts (job applications / job alerts),
- subscribing to email newsletters including your name and email address (email newsletter), or
- information that you submit that relates to a complaint, service feedback or enquiry (complaints / feedback and enquiries).
Specific detail of each processing activity is provided below.
Cookies
Cookies are text files that are stored on your web browser by a website’s server. Each cookie is unique to your browser, and will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the website domain name. This information is sent back to the server each time your browser requests a page from it. This enables the website server to identify and track your web browser via your unique, anonymous, identifier.
Catch22 only uses cookies on its website where they will support the functioning of its website and to improve the experience of its website visitors. These cookies may be created by Catch22’s website, or by third-party services that Catch22 uses, to enable its website to be run effectively.
Some, ‘necessary’ cookies are essential to the running of our website and are exempt from the requirement of consent as per the GDPR and PECR. Functional, analytical and advertising cookies are all optional, and we will only store these cookies on your browser where we have received your freely-given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent.
Any information that is collected by Catch22 via cookies is processed in a way which does not, and cannot, identify an individual person. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting the Catch22 website.
You can find out more about Catch22’s use of cookies, and how to opt-out of or delete cookies from your browser via our Cookies Statement.
Job applications
If you apply for a job with Catch22 using our hosted online job application system, this service will be provided by a data processor on our behalf (SmartRecruiters).
To process your application, we ask for your personal details including name and contact details. We will ask you about your previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. The hiring managers for the role, along with our Recruitment and HR teams will have access to all of this information.
Catch22 processes your job application data for the purpose of its legitimate interest to process your HR information.
- If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment plus six years following the end of your employment.
- If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for six months from the closure of the campaign.
- Equal opportunities information is retained for six months following the closure of the campaign whether you are successful or not.
For more information, please see the SmartRecruiters privacy notice.
Job alerts
Through the SmartRecruiters job application system, it is also possible to sign up for job alerts, which will let you know when new jobs that meet your criteria have been posted.
These alerts are managed by the data processor (SmartRecruiters) on our behalf, and will only be processed using your freely-given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.
If at any point you wish to unsubscribe from SmartRecruiters job alerts, this can be done by clicking the unsubscribe link on the latest email. You can also log into your SmartRecruiters candidate profile to modify or withdraw your details.
For more information, please see the SmartRecruiters privacy notice.
Email newsletter
If you subscribe to Catch22’s newsletter and/or event mailing lists, you will receive regular communications relating to our work. These mailings will be facilitated by a third-party provider, such as Mailchimp or Salesforce (marketing platforms), and your data will be processed by a third-party client relationship management platform, Salesforce.
Catch22 will only process your contact details and send you newsletters following your freely-given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.
You have the right to unsubscribe from any of our email mailing lists at any time. If you wish to unsubscribe from a Catch22 mailing list please click the unsubscribe link on the latest email or contact dpo@catch-22.org.uk to ensure that you do not continue to receive email newsletters from us. We will need to continue to hold your details after you have unsubscribed to ensure that we do not send you further communications.
For more information, please see the Mailchimp or Salesforce privacy notices as appropriate.
Feedback and enquiries
Catch22 processes the data submitted through any of our website contact forms for the purpose of receiving your message and responding to it under the lawful basis of consent, which you give when submitting the form.
We will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues, and to check on the level of service we provide.
These contact forms are processed using the WordPress plugin, Gravity Forms. When these forms are submitted to us, notification emails are automatically generated to send your enquiry to the appropriate team within Catch22 who will store your email for as long as is required to deal with your enquiry and any subsequent issues.
Form submissions are also stored within the Catch22 WordPress database for a period of 90 days. This allows us to identify if there are any issues with forms being received by our teams. After this time, forms and all accompanying personal data are automatically deleted from the system. Gravity Forms does not receive copies of any of forms, or any accompanying personal data, that are submitted via the Catch22 website.
You have the right to withdraw consent for us to contact you at any time by contacting dpo@catch-22.org.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, which in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner’s Office.
For more information, please see the Gravity Forms privacy notice.
Complaints
Complaints can be submitted using our online feedback form, by emailing feedback@catch-22.org.uk, or by post. Catch22 undertakes the processing of your complaints data as part of its legitimate interests.
When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.
We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide.
We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for six years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘data minimisation’ principle.
For more information, please see the Complaints, Compliments and Feedback policy.
Use of data processors
The Data Processor (the organisation that does data processing on behalf of Catch22) is Totally.Tech.
Catch22 also works with third-party data processors to provide our:
- content management system (WordPress),
- website analytics (Google Analytics),
- marketing platform (Mailchimp),
- client relationship management platform (Salesforce),
- social media advertising campaigns (Meta Pixel, Twitter Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, TikTok Pixel), and
- recruitment service (SmartRecruiters).
We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it and retain it for the period we instruct.
Individual Catch22 services may work with additional third-party data processors in line with their contractual requirements. For more information, please see the relevant Service Privacy Notice, which can be downloaded from their service page on this website, or found by searching for the service by name in our Policy Library.
Disclosures
Catch22 may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or data processors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy notice.
In addition, we may disclose information about you:
- to the extent that we are required to do so by law,
- in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings, or
- in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk).
Except as provided in this privacy notice, Catch22 will not provide your information to third parties without your consent.
Security of your personal data
Catch22 will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.
We will store all the personal information you provide on our secure, encrypted password and firewall protected servers. As data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.
Where information is held on our behalf by data processors, we will ensure, to the best of our ability, that they hold your information securely and in line with data protection legislation. We hold contracts with all data processors to make sure that they cannot do anything with your data unless we have instructed them to do so.
Notice amendments
We may update this privacy notice from time-to-time. Check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes.
Your rights
Please contact the Data Protection Officer if you have any queries regarding this Privacy Notice or if you would like to exercise or query any of the following rights afforded to you under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
- right to access
- right to erasure
- right to object
- right to rectification
- right to be informed
- right to restrict processing
- right to data portability
- rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
- right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) – via the Complaints page on the ICO website or by calling 0303 123 1113
For further information on your rights, please visit the Individual Rights page on the ICO website.
Contact
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or of our treatment of your personal data, please email dpo@catch-22.org.uk or write to:
Data Protection Officer
Catch22
27 Pear Tree Street
London
EC1V 3AG
Data controller
Catch22’s data protection registration number is Z1473239