King's assists first-degree undergraduate students with experience of care through a series of supportive measures to facilitate a successful transition into, throughout and beyond your time at university. In order to access the support provided, your care-experienced or care leaver status must be verified by King’s. If you have started your undergraduate course at King’s and wish to get your status verified, you will need to complete the steps detailed in this article.
If you wish to find out more about the support available to care-experienced and care leaver students, visit our article How does King's support care leavers/care-experienced students throughout their studies?
Checking that you meet our definition of care-experienced or care leaver Before completing the verification form, you should firstly check that you meet King's definition of care-experienced or care leaver.
You can find the definitions below:
Our definition of care-experienced is anyone who, at any stage in their life, for any length of time (no matter how short a time period):
Has been in local authority care, or
Is currently in local authority care, or
Is from a looked-after background, including adopted children who were previously looked-after. This could be looked after in the UK or Overseas
Individuals would also need to meet all of the following eligibility criteria:
Be under 25 at the start of your undergraduate course,
Be assessed as a home fee payer,
Have lived in public care or as a look-after child, including with foster carers under local authority care, in a residential children’s home, or have been adopted after being in care.
Important to know: Living in public care does not mean time spent in boarding schools, working in a care or healthcare setting, being admitted or detained in a healthcare setting under the mental health act, or being a carer yourself.
The term care leaver refers to anyone who has been in care or from a looked-after background, for:
Individuals would also need to meet all of the following eligibility criteria:
Be under 25 at the start of your course,
Be assessed as a home fee payer,
Have lived in public care or as a looked-after child, including with foster carers under local authority care or in a residential children's home.
Important to know: If you are unsure whether you meet the criteria to be verified as care-experienced or as a care leaver at King’s, please contact the King’s Money and Housing Advice Service for a consultation meeting, where they can discuss and advise on your circumstances.
Collecting your supporting documentation for submission To complete the verification form, you will be required to submit supporting documentation to King’s to show that you meet King’s definition of care-experienced or care leaver. This helps to ensure we give support to the right people. You need to submit two documents.
a) A letter confirming your care leaver or care-experienced status
If you are a care leaver, you should ask your Personal Advisor or Social Worker to confirm that you are a statutory care leaver. This letter would have to be on headed paper including details about the support they will provide for you whilst you are at university. If you do not have a Personal Advisor or Social Worker, you can contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you spent time in care.
If you are care-experienced, you need to provide a letter on headed paper from the local authority where you spent time in care which confirms this. If you do not have this letter already, you should contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you first spent time in care.
b) Your notification of entitlement letter from Student Finance
This will help us ensure that you are receiving the correct amount of maintenance loan.
This information is usually sent to you in the post. If you no longer have a copy of the document, you can access a copy of this letter on your online Student Finance account under the tab letter and emails.
If you are unsure what this letter is, please see our example Student Finance England notification of entitlement award letter (pdf).
How do I obtain supporting documentation as a care leaver?
If you are a care leaver, you should ask your Personal Advisor or Social Worker to confirm that you are a statutory care leaver. Ask them to provide you with a letter on headed paper including details about the support they will provide for you while you are at university. If you do not have a personal adviser or social worker, you can contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you spent time in care.
How do I obtain supporting documentation as someone who is care-experienced?
You need to provide a letter on headed paper from the local authority where you spent time in care. This letter needs to confirm that you have spent time in care. If you do not have this letter already, you should contact the Duty Social Worker within the local authority where you spent time in care.
I am having difficulties obtaining the documentation
If you struggle to obtain the necessary supporting documentation, you can answer ‘no’ to the question, ‘Can you supply evidence that you are a care leaver, care-experienced or estranged.’
You should only answer no to this question after you have attempted to gather supporting documentation from the local authority.
You will then be asked to explain why you cannot provide the documentation. Please give as full an answer as possible, explaining the steps you have taken to obtain this. If you are unsure, please contact the King's Money and Housing Advice Service for a consultation meeting to discuss whether you would meet the criteria to be verified as care-experienced or a care leaver.
What if I am both care-experienced and estranged?
If you are both care-experienced and estranged, you can select either of these on the form as the support you receive will be the same. Selecting estranged may be easier for you if you have already been assessed as estranged by student finance. Read about the evidence you would need to provide to be verified as estranged on our article I'm an estranged student; how can King's support me throughout my studies?
What is the Student Finance Notification of Entitlement Award Letter?
You will be asked to provide your Student Finance Notification of Entitlement award letter. This information is usually sent to you in the post. If you no longer have a copy of the document, you can access a copy of this letter on your online Student Finance account under the tab letter and emails. To see an example letter confirming estrangement status see our Student Finance England letter of entitlement (pdf).
Once you have checked you meet the definition for care-experienced/care leaver and collected your supporting documentation, you will be ready to complete the verification form for care-experienced and estranged students.
Important to know: This form is for students currently enrolled at King’s. If you have not enrolled yet to King’s, please read the pre-entry care-experienced and care leaver guidance.
What information will I need to provide in the form?
In this section you will be asked:
First Name
Surname
Your King's student ID number
Name of your undergraduate course
Name of your faculty
Your age when you started your course at King's
What year of study you are in
How many years of study you have remaining
In this section, you will be asked:
Whether you are a care leaver, care-experienced or estranged.
To provide supporting documentation for your care leaver or care-experienced status, or for an explanation of why you are not able to provide this.
Whether you have applied for student funding, and to upload your notification of entitlement award letter from Student Finance for the current academic year.
In this section, you will be asked:
If you agree to a data sharing agreement.
It is important that you read this in detail to ensure you understand how data will be shared across the university. If you do not agree, we will be unable to verify your status as care-experienced or a care leaver. Find out more on our priority groups data collection statement webpage.
The final section of the form contains details on your next steps. In this section, you are provided with links which outline the support you are entitled to if verified as care-experienced, or as a care leaver student.
Please read this page thoroughly so you understand how King's can support you through your studies.
When will I know the outcome of the verification process?
Once you have submitted the verification form, we will contact you via your King’s email address to inform you of the outcome of the verification process within 15 working days.
