Care leavers to get free bus travel in and around Bristol for longer
Helen Godwin used to be a cabinet member for children's services at Bristol City Council, before she was elected as Weca mayor on 1 May.She explained care leavers "often don't have the same outcomes" as young people who have not been in care.
"We have many more care leavers who are not in education, employment or training," she said.The scheme is being subsidised as part of a £16m bus grant secured by North Somerset Council and Weca, which takes in the local authority areas of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire."We've always tried to support our care leavers up to the age of 25, just because sometimes when life is more complicated it can take a bit longer for young people to get themselves into a situation where maybe there are in regular work or able to study," Ms Godwin added.
The charity Barnardo's called for free bus travel for care leavers in 2023, following a pilot scheme in Cornwall. At the time, the charity's director of children's services, Hugh Sherriffe, said: "Leaving care is a very challenging time and having access to free travel can have a positive and powerful impact on so many areas of young people's lives, helping them to take up opportunities that might otherwise have been denied them."Leaders in the west of England have welcomed the extension, including South Gloucestershire Council's leader Maggie Tyrrell."The investment will make a real difference to some of our most vulnerable young people and help them access education, jobs and vital support networks," she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Sun
A-level results day 2025 LIVE: Record number get into 1st choice uni, plus how UCAS Clearing works
A-LEVEL students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are opening their results this morning on a day tinged with excitement and nerves. Last year in the UK, 27.8 per cent earned top grades of A or A*, up from 27.2 per cent in 2023. The majority of schools have opened their doors from 8am to 11am - but it's advisable to check your school's website or social media. It can, however, take up to 24 hours for places to be confirmed at certain universities. Many students who don't meet the required Ucas points for their top choices will then face a frantic race for places through clearing until October 20. Follow ALL of the latest updates below.... 5 minutes ago By Ethan Singh Phillipson pledges to close attainment gap Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said she will not 'stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities' that blight the life chances of many young people. The government's plans for turning around the attainment gap between white working-class children and their peers will be set out in the autumn. Pupils who are receiving their A-level and level 3 vocational and technical qualification results were in Year 8 when schools closed because of the pandemic. This cohort of school and college leavers received their GCSE results in 2023, the first year that grading was returned to pre-pandemic levels in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading in 2024, a year later than in England. 17 minutes ago By Ethan Singh Clarkson speaks out Jeremy Clarkson has penned a tweet to students who may not have achieved what they wanted this morning. He wrote: "If your A level results are disappointing, don't worry. "I got a C and two Us and here I am today, installing lights for a helicopter landing pad in my garden." Clarkson has sought to reassure A-level teens with an annual tweet about how his life worked out despite getting poor grades. 28 minutes ago By Ethan Singh Students opening results Thousands of students across the country have began opening their results. Months of hard work have now come down to this nail-biting moment as teenagers look to see what they have achieved. Record numbers have secured their first-choice university places this year, according to UCAS. Students receive their A-level results at The Latimers Arts College in Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire. Picture date: Thursday August 14, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire By Douglas Simpson What if students don't get into their first choice university? Prospective undergraduates who don't get into their first choice of university can use clearing to get onto other courses. Clearing matches applicants to university places that are yet to be filled and is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day. Students who did not receive any offers can also use clearing to find a place at university. Any students who may have changed their minds about what to study and those who applied outside the normal application window can use clearing as well. Today, 07:45 By Douglas Simpson Record number of students could be successful in securing university places For many students, receiving their exam results today will also bring confirmation of university places. For others, their grades will help them progress to an apprenticeship or work. Last week, Jo Saxton, head of Ucas, suggested a record number of 18-year-olds could be successful in securing their first-choice university on results day. British universities are keen to recruit UK students because there is more "uncertainty" around international students, she suggested. Today, 06:39 By Douglas Simpson What grades can students expect ? Last year, 27.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, this was the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside of the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. Only 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades in 2019 - the last year exams were taken before the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top A-level grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. Today, 06:22 By Douglas Simpson What time will grades be released? School and college leavers will receive their A-level and AS grades today with students eagerly awaiting their results. Most will be able to find out what they've achieved from 8am. Schools will usually stay open until around 11am for anyone arriving later.
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
A-level results: Record number of UK students accepted onto university courses
A record number of students have been accepted onto university or college courses as 18-year-olds celebrate A-level results day. Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland discovered their A-level and AS-level results on Thursday morning, with many finding out if they secured a place on a course. New Ucas data shows 255,130 UK 18-year-olds have been accepted into university or college, compared to 243,650 in 2024, marking a rise of almost 5 per cent (4.7 per cent). Overall, the figures show 82 per cent of those holding an offer who received their decision on Thursday morning have been placed on their first choice, the same proportion as last year. In total, Ucas said 439,180 applicants have been accepted, marking an increase of more than 3 per cent (3.1 per cent) on 425,860 last year – the highest number of placed students on results day on record. There has also been an increase in the number of 18-year-olds from the most deprived areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland gaining a place, it added. It comes after 27.8 per cent of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade in 2024, up from 27.2 per cent the previous year, marking the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4 per cent of entries were awarded A or A* grades. The pandemic led to an increase in top A-level and GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson described exam results day as 'a time for celebration' for young people across the country. She said: 'Whether A-Levels, T-Levels or technical and vocational qualifications, I wish everyone the very best of luck, and offer my heartfelt thanks to the fantastic teachers, staff and parents who've supported them to this milestone. 'Every young person should have the opportunity to achieve and thrive. This government won't stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities that continue to blight the life chances of too many young people, especially those from white working class backgrounds who have long been overlooked. 'We're already taking decisive action and making encouraging progress. With great options from degree apprenticeships and high-quality technical qualifications to traditional university routes, we are giving young people the tools they need to get great jobs, fill talent gaps, and help drive economic growth as part of our Plan for Change.'
The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
A policy that benefited the richest and cost the UK £100bn: it's long past time to end the fuel duty freeze
Nothing speaks so eloquently of the rundown state of Britain than potholes on the roads. Motorists rightly complain of the damage caused to their vehicles. Cyclists risk serious injury every time they mount their bikes. Increased road use from a rising population is one reason for the problem. Cuts to repair budgets are another. Fixing the problem will be expensive, with one estimate putting the cost of mending potholes in England and Wales at a hefty £17bn. Complaints about the state of the roads have made governments reluctant to arouse the ire of motoring lobby groups by raising fuel excise duty – the tax paid at the pump on fuel. The last chancellor to do so was Alistair Darling 15 years ago. The cumulative cost to the exchequer of the freezes and cuts to fuel duty since 2010 is put at £130bn – a colossal sum given the struggle governments have had to balance the books during that time. In reality, the days are numbered for fuel duty. Of the 34m vehicles on the UK's roads, 1.6m are fully electric, but that figure will rise steadily over time. Once petrol and diesel vehicles are phased out completely, the £24.4bn currently raised from fuel duty will dwindle to zero. That represents a sizeable and permanent hit to the public finances. Rachel Reeves has more immediate things to worry about. The weakness of the economy means the chancellor is at grave risk of breaking her self-imposed rule that day-to-day government spending should be matched by tax receipts. Reeves fears that breaking the rule would incur the wrath of the financial markets, while cutting spending would incur the wrath of Labour MPs. So she is scrabbling around for tax increases that don't break Labour's manifesto commitment not to raise the rates of income tax, VAT or employee national insurance contributions. This is not going to be easy. One estimate last week said Reeves will need to find more than £50bn to stick to her fiscal rule with a reasonable margin for error. Even though other forecasts suggest the figure may be lower than that, there will still be difficult choices to make. Faced with these pressures, Reeves should do two things. First, she should end the freeze on fuel duty, which has been kept in place no matter whether the cost of petrol and diesel is high or low. It is not just that Reeves could well do with the several billion pounds that a rise in fuel duty would harvest. Fuel duty is now a third lower, in real terms, than it was when Darling was at the Treasury, effectively cutting the cost of motoring and so creating incentives to drive more. Increased congestion and the potholed roads are consequences of that. The stated rationale for the protracted freeze since 2010 is that it helps hard-pressed motorists, but the main beneficiaries have not been white-van man but the better off, who drive more, own more vehicles and buy gas-guzzling SUVs. The richest fifth of households have benefited twice as much from the fuel duty freeze as the poorest fifth. Raising fuel duty in the budget should be a no-brainer for Reeves. But the chancellor also needs to come up with a plan for what to do once the era of all-electric vehicles finally arrives, and here there is an obvious solution: road pricing. Conceptually, there should be little problem with this idea. People expect to pay more for a train journey in rush hours. Hotels charge more for rooms on a Friday or Saturday when demand is higher. The same principle should apply to roads. There are reasons why ministers are reluctant to grasp this nettle. Fuel duty, while a regressive tax, is easy to understand. There are no issues with privacy and surveillance, as there would be with road pricing. Governments are sensitive to charges that they are planning to wage war on motorists. Given that only 5% of vehicles are electric currently, the transition may take longer than originally envisaged. No question, doing nothing has its attractions. But the costs of inaction will grow over time. A report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) said the loss of tax revenue from cars would be £10bn by 2030, £20bn by 2035 and £30bn by 2040. This would inevitably lead to chunky tax increases. Reducing the cost of motoring by continually freezing fuel duty would lead to more and longer traffic jams. Those still driving petrol and diesel vehicles would face a triple whammy: spending longer in traffic; paying higher taxes elsewhere to compensate for the lost fuel-duty revenue from those who transferred to electric vehicles; and paying three to four times more for tax and fuel than those who drive EVs. The TBI report outlined the four ways road pricing might work. Drivers could face a flat-rate charge for each mile they drive; costs could vary according to geographic area or specific roads, with costs increased in areas where congestion was higher; road users could be charged for each minute they spend driving; and finally an 'Uberised' model, where charges vary dynamically on the road used and the time of travel. Technically, it would be possible to make any of the approaches – or a combination of them – work. It speaks volumes that the report was published four years ago this month, since when inertia has reigned supreme. That needs to change because the do-nothing option is really no option at all. Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist
