Moving into your first home should be an exciting milestone.

For many young people, it comes with support from parents and relatives. Someone might donate a kettle, help buy bedding, provide a set of pans or arrive with bags full of groceries.

For young people leaving care, that support network can look very different.

Moving into independent accommodation may mean suddenly becoming responsible for everything from cooking and cleaning to budgeting and household bills.

Community charities can play a valuable role by helping young people obtain some of the practical essentials needed to make a new property feel like a home.

One increasingly useful approach is the care leaver starter pack.

What Is a Care Leaver?

A care leaver is a young person who has previously been looked after by a local authority and is moving from care towards independent adulthood.

There are specific legal definitions and entitlements depending on a young person’s circumstances.

Official information about leaving care and the support that may be available can be found through GOV.UK’s guidance for young people leaving care.

Local authorities also have responsibilities towards eligible care leavers.

Community charities should not attempt to replace that statutory support.

Instead, they can complement it.

The Cost of Setting Up a First Home

Think about everything required when moving into an empty property.

There are obvious items such as furniture and bedding.

Then there are dozens of smaller products:

• Plates
• Bowls
• Mugs
• Cutlery
• Pans
• Cooking utensils
• Towels
• Cleaning products
• Bin bags
• Toiletries
• Food
• Laundry products
• Basic household supplies

Individually, many of these products are inexpensive.

Buying everything at once is different.

For a young person managing a limited budget, setting up a home from nothing can become a significant expense.

What Could Go into a Starter Pack?

Rather than providing random donated items, charities can create organised packs containing practical essentials.

A kitchen starter pack could contain appropriate items such as:

• Plates and bowls
• Mugs
• Cutlery
• Cooking utensils
• Tea towels
• Saucepans
• Food storage containers

A cleaning starter pack could include:

• Washing-up liquid
• Sponges
• Cleaning cloths
• Laundry detergent
• Bin bags
• Household cleaning products

A food starter pack might contain useful cupboard essentials.

A bedroom pack could include suitable new bedding and towels.

The exact contents should always be determined in consultation with the organisations and young people being supported.

Make It Feel Like a Home, Not an Emergency Package

There is an important difference between giving someone essential supplies and helping them establish a home.

Presentation can matter.

Imagine receiving your first set of keys and then being handed several organised boxes containing the basics needed for your kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

It creates a very different experience from receiving an assortment of unrelated donations.

The objective should be dignity and independence.

Young People Should Have Choice

Charitable support works best when people have some control over what they receive.

Where practical, a young person might be offered a choice between colours or styles of certain household items.

Even small choices can matter when somebody is establishing their own space.

Their first home should reflect them.

It should not feel like somebody else’s unwanted belongings have simply been placed inside it.

Learning from Organisations Supporting Care-Experienced Young People

Become is a national charity supporting children in care and young care leavers.

Barnardo’s also works with children and young people across the UK, including services relating to leaving care and independent living.

These specialist organisations demonstrate why care-experienced young people need to remain involved in conversations about the support designed for them.

Businesses Could Sponsor an Entire Starter Pack

Care leaver starter packs create an excellent opportunity for structured business giving.

Instead of simply asking:

“Would your company like to donate?”

A charity could potentially ask:

“Would your company sponsor a first-home starter pack?”

That makes the purpose of the contribution immediately understandable.

A business might fund one pack.

Employees could collectively fund several.

Another company might provide specific products rather than money.

Retailers Could Contribute Household Products

Businesses selling household goods are particularly well suited to this type of project.

IKEA UK sells a wide range of household and home-furnishing products.

Dunelm is another major UK retailer specialising in homewares.

Retailers do not necessarily have to provide expensive furniture.

Products such as bedding, towels, cookware or kitchen equipment can all contribute towards making a new home functional.

Independent retailers can participate too.

Employers Could Organise New-Home Collections

Workplaces could run targeted collection campaigns.

Rather than asking employees to bring “anything for the home”, charities should publish a specific list.

For example:

This month we need:

• New towels
• New bedding
• Saucepans
• Plates
• Mugs
• Cutlery
• Cleaning products

Specific requests help prevent charities becoming overwhelmed with items they cannot use.

Financial Skills Matter Alongside Physical Items

Providing household products solves only part of the challenge of independent living.

Young people may also need access to appropriate information about:

• Budgeting
• Bills
• Tenancies
• Employment
• Benefits
• Council services
• Household responsibilities

MoneyHelper provides free, impartial guidance backed by the UK Government on a wide range of money matters.

Where specialist advice is needed, community organisations can signpost young people towards appropriate services rather than trying to provide regulated or professional advice themselves.

Practical Skills Can Build Independence

There may also be opportunities for voluntary organisations to arrange practical sessions around independent living.

These could cover simple subjects such as:

• Cooking affordable meals
• Looking after a home
• Understanding basic household responsibilities
• Shopping economically
• Reducing food waste
• Planning weekly meals

The objective should always be empowerment.

Helping someone become independent is different from doing everything for them.

Local Support Can Make the Transition Less Daunting

A young person leaving care may be moving into a community where they have relatively few connections.

Local organisations can help create another layer of support.

This does not mean replacing social workers, personal advisers or statutory services.

It means creating a community that is prepared to help when appropriate.

How The Khaliq Foundation Could Contribute

The Khaliq Foundation already provides practical support through food, clothing and emergency hampers.

Care leaver starter packs could complement that experience.

The Foundation could potentially work alongside specialist organisations and appropriate local services to collect specific household essentials for young people moving towards independent living.

Our role would remain practical and community focused.

From an Empty Property to a Home

There is a significant emotional difference between receiving keys to an empty property and walking into somewhere that already contains the basics needed for everyday life.

A kettle.

A mug.

A towel.

Clean bedding.

Something to cook dinner in.

None of these items is particularly remarkable on its own.

Together, they create the beginnings of a home.

Looking Ahead

Leaving care and becoming independent is a major transition.

Young people deserve the opportunity to begin that next stage of life with dignity, encouragement and practical support.

Government services and specialist organisations have essential roles to play.

But communities can contribute too.

A local business can sponsor a starter pack.

A retailer can provide household products.

Volunteers can prepare boxes.

A charity can bring those contributions together.

Sometimes helping someone take their next big step begins with providing the small everyday things most of us barely think about.