Accommodation

We will always support you to find a home within Trafford if it is safe to do so. 

If you’ve left the area and wish to return, we will try to help you do this, provided it’s a safe option. Sometimes this may not be possible, or you may not wish to stay in Trafford, so we may work with you to find a place to live outside of Trafford.

If you are over 18, your aftercare worker will help you to find suitable accommodation. We know it can be very hard having your own place for the first time, so we will do whatever we can to ease the pressures on you. 

This might involve working alongside supported accommodation providers if you are not quite ready, or do not want to have your own tenancy immediately. 

We will also provide you with advice about being a good tenant, including: 

• Budgeting
• Paying rent
• Bills
• Not getting into debt

We will support you with moving into your accommodation and can also offer support for storing furniture for short periods. Speak to your aftercare worker if this is needed.

Aged 16 to 17

If you are aged 16 to 17, the Council will ensure that you have a suitable place to live, such as with a foster carer, in a children’s home, or a semi-independent provision.

We will start working with you on your Pathway Plan when you are 16, so there is lots of time to decide what you will need when you live independently. 

You can look at all the options available, with the support of your social worker and aftercare worker, to make sure that you can find somewhere suitable and affordable when you are an adult.

Staying Put (aged 18 to 21)

Staying Put is an arrangement which offers the opportunity to remain living with your foster carers after the age of 18. 

If this is what you and your foster carer want, we will support you to remain living there under what is known as a ‘Staying Put’ arrangement. This can last until you are 21, or longer if you are in Higher Education. Ask your aftercare worker for more information.

Staying Put would be ideal for you if you are not yet wanting to live independently, enjoy the security of living with people you know and have formed relationships with, and it provides you more time before deciding on your next step into independence.

You will be expected to contribute to the rent, and if entitled to claim benefits, you will be expected to claim housing benefit/Universal Credit. Your aftercare worker will help you to organise this.

Supported lodgings (aged 16 to 21)

If you are leaving foster care or a children’s home, supported lodgings can provide a ‘bridge’ between being in care and independence. Young people are usually between the ages of 16 and 18 when they move into supported lodgings.

The scheme aims to support you whilst at the same time receiving guidance and encouragement to learn life skills. You will live with an adult or family who can support you to develop skills for adulthood.

Supported housing or semi-independent living (16 years+)

This is your own room/studio flat, sometimes with shared kitchen and living space. In Trafford, we have: 

• Elstree Court 
• Forrest Court 
• Greenbank 
• Pomona Gardens 
• Meadow Lodge 
• House Project

You will have a key worker at each of the above who will work with you to agree a plan that sets out what support you need to work towards having your own independence. 

There is emergency accommodation at Greenbank: two emergency beds that can be used for care-experienced young people in an emergency housing crisis. These can be used for up to 7 days and can be accessed through HOST (Housing Options Service Trafford).

Independent living 

This will be a registered provider property or accommodation that a private landlord offers. Support to live in this way may be offered by your aftercare worker. Independent living might also include university halls or other student accommodation if you are in higher education.  

Where possible, we will seek additional support for you through a tenancy support worker. Your aftercare worker can give you more information about this.

Living with friends and family 

Once you have turned 18, you may decide to live with your birth family or friends. If this is an option you wish to consider, then your aftercare worker can help you to achieve it. 

Should you choose to return to live with family, we will remain in contact with you and continue to check in on what support you may need.

Additional support (18 to 25 years)

The Care Experienced service, alongside HOST (Housing Options Service Trafford), can help you to find somewhere to live, which may include helping you to get a bond and your first month’s rent on your first property (subject to the property being satisfactory).

If you have additional needs or vulnerabilities, we will look to work alongside colleagues in Adult Services to ensure that those needs can be supported.

We want to keep working alongside you up to the age of 25, unless you decide that after 21, you do not want to continue with an allocated aftercare worker. If you choose this at 21, we will be clear about the route back into the service and support on offer. 

We will still want to keep in touch, whether by regular text messages or occasional phone calls, to know how you are doing and if there is anything we can help you with. As Corporate Parents, we will want to know you are well.

Council tax

Care-experienced young people are not required to pay council tax until after the age of 25; this applies both in Trafford and Greater Manchester. If you are living outside of Greater Manchester, speak with your aftercare worker.