Care leaver support

The best way to find out about us is to visit us.

• Open days: learn about what Teesside University has to offer by visiting us at an open day. Talk to tutors and students, tour our facilities and take a look round our accommodation. Finance advisers, the Students Union and the disability service will be around to offer support and advice.
  View details of upcoming open days
• Campus visits: campus visits offer a calmer opportunity to explore the University. You can take a guided tour of our campus, speak to people in the student recruitment and accommodation teams, and talk to current students. The whole experience takes about 90 minutes.
  Sign up for a campus visit
• Personalised tour: you can take a quick 30-minute individual tour - taking in the Library, the Students' Union and teaching spaces. You can also talk to someone from TUCares about the support available at the University and student finance. To arrange a tour, please email careleavers@tees.ac.uk.

You can come alone or bring someone along with you, whatever you prefer.

If you have any questions about studying at Teesside University or the support available, please email careleavers@tees.ac.uk.

Funding advice

You can meet with a Student Funding Adviser before applying to Teesside University, during the application process and at any time while studying here.

Our Student Funding Advisers can help you with a range of issues, including:

• applying for student finance, so that you are assessed correctly and receive all the funding available to you
• exploring how studying at University might affect existing benefits
• accessing emergency financial support through our Student Support Fund or Delayed Funding Loan

You can request an appointment with a Student Funding Adviser by emailing careleavers@tees.ac.uk.

Blackbullion

All Teesside University students have free access to this online resource, which offers financial advice and tips on starting university, budgeting, saving and managing debt.
More about Blackbullion

Care Leavers Bursary

If you are UK full-time student and meet our definition of a care leaver, you may be eligible for a non-repayable bursary of £2,000 for every year that you progress through your course.

To apply for the bursary, you must:

• have been in care on or after your 16th birthday and have been in care for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14
• be a full-time undergraduate or masters student at Teesside University
• be a home student entitled to student funding from SFE, SFW, SFNI or SAAS
• be under the age of 25

The bursary is paid in three instalments throughout the year for each year you study with us (based on progression to the next level of study).

You receive the bursary in addition to the financial support you receive from your local authority and any student finance you may be eligible for (your grants and loans).

You will need to provide evidence of your status as a care leaver, such as a letter from your personal adviser/social worker/pathway worker. If you are unsure of the evidence needed to confirm your circumstances, please get in touch.

If you have indicated that you have experience in care in your UCAS application and are a full-time student under the age of 25, we will contact you directly to provide more information on applying for the bursary. If you did not include your care leaver status on your UCAS application, you can email careleavers@tees.ac.uk and we will send you information on how to apply.

Teesside University can offer a full 365-day accommodation contract to any care experienced student who needs it. You can request this directly on your accommodation application.

We can also arrange for you to access your accommodation a day before other students arrive. You might find this helpful if you would prefer a calmer introduction to university life or if you would like time to find your feet before meeting other students.

If you would like more information, please email careleavers@tees.ac.uk

The TUCares Team provides dedicated support for care experienced students. We are here to help if you run into difficulties and can put you in touch with a wide range of University support services.

We understand that you may not want any extra support, but we are here for you if and when you need us. Even if you just need someone to talk to.

University support services you can access include:

• Welfare advice
• Pastoral support
• Finance advice
• Counselling
• Mental health
• Disability
• Academic skills
• Wellbeing and lifestyle
• Social prescribing

As a care experienced student, you have priority access to:

• Counselling
• Mental health support
• Finance advice

We can also signpost or refer you to local organisations for support if appropriate.

With your permission, we can work with your local authority to ensure a smooth transition to higher education and to put the right support in place.

If you would like to access support or discuss what support might be helpful, please contact us at careleavers@tees.ac.uk

Established in 2018, the Care Leaver Covenant aims to support young people leaving care in five areas: education, work, money, wellbeing and home. Teesside University has signed up to the Covenant along with four other North East Universities as part of the North East Raising Aspirations Partnership (NERAP).
More about North East Raising Aspirations Partnership (NERAP)

Organisations offering guidance and information include:

• The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL): The NNECL is dedicated to transforming the educational outcomes of young people with experience of being in care
  More about The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL)
• Become/Propel: Become is the charity for children in care and young care leavers. It's service, Propel, supports care-experienced young people to access college and university
  More about Become
  More about Propel
• Care Leavers Association: The Care Leavers Association is a national user-led charity aimed at improving the lives of care leavers of all ages
  More about Care Leavers Association
• Rees Foundation: The Rees Foundation offers help and advice to anyone over 16 who has been in foster care or residential care as a child
  More about Rees Foundation

The Care Experienced Student Handbook contains a directory of organisations offering support, information and funding for students with experience of care.

You can contact the TUCares team by emailing careleavers@tees.ac.uk.

Or come and see us at one of our drop-in sessions in Student Life at the Middlesbrough Campus.

During term-time, we offer drop-in appointments for care experienced students at the following times:

Mondays: 11.00am - 1.00pm
Wednesdays: 12.00pm - 2.00pm

There is no need to book. Just ask to speak to someone from the TUCares team at the welcome desk in Student Life.

If it is not possible for you to come in at one of these times, email us and we will find another time to meet.

The support offered by the TUCares team is a free and confidential. Any information you provide us with can only be seen by appropriate members of staff involved in helping you access support.

There may be times you wish for a member of the team to speak with internal or external services. This would only be done with your informed consent. There are however some exceptions where we have a duty of care to share information without your consent. These situations are detailed below:

• if you or anyone else is at risk of harm
• if there is a concern regarding safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults
• if there is a legal requirement, for example at a court hearing.

Under the General Data Protection Regulations, we are obliged to tell you how we collect and use your personal data. Please note enquiries and appointments with our service are tracked electronically and the personal data of your enquiry is stored in protected files. We keep this data to enable us to track your enquiry and our response for future reference. This personal information will be retained for 7 years after which it will be destroyed securely.

For more information, please refer to the University's General Privacy Notice for students.

If you would like to provide any feedback or make a complaint about the service you have received, in the first instance please contact studentlife@tees.ac.uk.

If you would like to make a formal complaint, please refer to the information on our complaints page.