Care leaver(CARELEAVER)

All EntryProfile entities at Approved (fee cap) providers in England where (EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XF, XG, XH, XI, XK, XL, GG, JE or IM) and (Qualification.QUALCAT starts with H, I, J or C or is M0002, M0016 or M0018 excluding H0009 and H0010), except where Engagement.INCOMINGEXCHANGE exists or (SessionStatus.STATUSCHANGEDTO = 02 for the entire reference period) or (Leaver.ENGENDDATE - Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE <= 14 days and RSNENGEND = 03, 05, 11, 12).

All EntryProfile entities at providers in Northern Ireland where (EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XF, XG, XH, XI, XK, XL, GG, JE or IM) and (Qualification.QUALCAT starts with H, I, J or C or is M0002, M0016 or M0018) and the Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE for the Engagement is after 2013-07-31.

All EntryProfile entities at providers in Scotland where (EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XF, XG, XH, XI, XK, XL, GG, JE or IM) and Engagement.INCOMINGEXCHANGE does not exist and the Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE for the Engagement is after 2013-07-31.

All EntryProfile entities at providers in Wales where EntryProfile.UCASSCHEMECODE exists and (Qualification.QUALCAT starts with H, I, J or C or is M0002, M0016 or M0018) and Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE is after 2013-07-31 and before 2014-08-01, except where Engagement.INCOMINGEXCHANGE exists or (Leaver.ENGENDDATE - Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE <= 14 days and RSNENGEND = 03, 05, 11, 12).

All EntryProfile entities at providers in Wales where (EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XL, IM, GG, JE, AT, AX, BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, EU, FI, FR, GF, GI, GP, GR, HR, HU, IC, IT, LT, LU, LV, MQ, MT, NL, PL, PT, RE, RO, SE, SI, SK, XA, XC or YT) and the Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE for the Engagement is after 2014-07-31 and before 2021-08-01, except where Engagement.INCOMINGEXCHANGE exists or (Leaver.ENGENDDATE - Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE <= 14 days and RSNENGEND = 03, 05, 11, 12).

All EntryProfile entities at providers in Wales where (EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XF, XG, XH, XI, XL, IE, GG, JE or IM) and the Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE for the Engagement is after 2014-07-31, except where Engagement.INCOMINGEXCHANGE exists or (Leaver.ENGENDDATE - Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE <= 14 days and RSNENGEND = 03, 05, 11, 12).

This data is required at entry to a student's Engagement and is not required to be maintained throughout a student's Engagement.

This field must not be returned outside of coverage.

For providers in England this is required for any students where the Engagement.ENGSTARTDATE after:

• 2013-07-31 where the provider previously submitted to the Student record
• 2020-07-31 where the provider previously submitted to the Student Alternative record

97 Not known: this code should be used when the student themselves does not know this information.

98 Prefer not to say: this code should be used when the student does not wish to declare this information.

99 Not available: this code should be used when the provider is unable to obtain the data in order to submit it to HESA. Note that this option should not be presented to students explicitly.

Providers in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales

Suggested question: ‘What is your care experience status?’

If a student responds that they have experience of care or that they do not know whether they have experience of care, then the guidance on assigning the different categories of care experience produced by The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers can be used: https://www.nnecl.org/resources/information-to-support-implementation-to-the-updated-hesa-care-experienced-data-flags. This includes a decision tree to assist providers in ensuring that they capture data on their care experienced students correctly: https://hubble-live-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/nnecl/file_asset/file/316/HESA_Care_Expereinced_Data_Flags_Decision_Tree__4_.pdf. This guidance helps to ensure that the student is assigned to the correct care experience category.

Where a student response indicates that they have experienced care, the provider must investigate further in order to ascertain which valid entry in the HESA coding frame to use. This may be by talking to the student personally, by email correspondence, or as a result of assessing their eligibility for financial support.

A student’s experience of local authority care has been broken down into the following categories:

06 Care leaver: includes all students who are currently recognised by their local authority as a care leaver and as such are eligible for statutory support. For example, this may have been verified by talking to the student personally, by email correspondence, or as a result of assessing their eligibility for financial support. This only needs to be established once by a member of staff at the provider, preferably at the point of the student's entry. The provider must have reason above and beyond the information given on the student's UCAS form to identify them as 'Care leaver'.

07 Care experienced: includes all students who can be reasonably verified as having been in care at any stage up to the age of 18 and cannot be recorded as ‘Care leaver’; this includes those who were adopted (from care) before the age of 18. For example, this may have been verified by talking to the student personally, by email correspondence, or as a result of assessing their eligibility for financial support. This only needs to be established once by a member of staff at the provider, preferably at the point of the student's entry. The provider must have reason above and beyond the information given on the student's UCAS form to identify them as 'Care experienced'.

08 Self-declared care experience but not confirmed: includes all students who self-declared as having care experience on their UCAS form but this was not able to be verified by the provider.

09 No experience of care: includes all students who have been confirmed to have incorrectly self-declared on their UCAS form.

Providers in Scotland

Suggested question: ‘Have you ever been in care or have you ever been looked-after by a local authority at any stage in your life, no matter how long for?’

02 Looked after in Scotland: includes all students who can be reasonably verified as currently being looked after by a local authority or having been looked after by a local authority between the ages of 0-18. To be 'looked after' means either:

• provided with accommodation by a local authority (for example, in foster care, kinship care, a residential school, secure unit, or children's home), either on a voluntary basis or by means of a legal process, normally a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing in Scotland, or
• subject to a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing in Scotland while living in the family home.

03 In care in the rest of UK: includes anyone who has spent any time up to the age of 18 in the care of a local authority in England or Wales or Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.

05 Not a care leaver: includes all students who have been confirmed to have incorrectly self-declared on the student’s UCAS form. This code can also be used when a student in Scotland was in care outside of the UK.