Technology and Science25 August, 20263 min read
Review Finds 112 Deaths Among 18-24 Care Leavers in 2025, Warns of ‘Care Cliff’
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112 care-leaver deaths aged 18–24 were recorded in 2025. Care leavers' death rate is about four times higher than peers (roughly 130 per 100,000).
Care leavers face a cliff
A government-commissioned review found 112 deaths involving care leavers aged between 18 and 24 were reported in 2025, an estimated rate of around 130 per 100,000 and described as “about three to four times higher than the death rate in the general population”. The BBC said the report warned the so-called “care cliff” must be addressed, with 18 appearing “a significant turning point” as 22 deaths occurred at age 18, more than any other age in the range. Ashley John-Baptiste, who grew up in care and co-led the review alongside social worker Clare Chamberlain, told BBC Radio 4 Today, “I was made to live alone and work out how to be an adult,” after he turned 18 and moved out of the last of four foster homes.
The review said the consequences of leaving care can be catastrophic, describing young people as “at the height of vulnerability who were isolated and often very lonely” and warning that on reaching 18 they faced “a dramatic drop in support”. It also said just over a third of the 112 care leavers were thought to have died by suicide, a rate it said was potentially five times higher than in the general population.
Voices call it a tragedy
Ashley John-Baptiste branded the findings a “national tragedy” on BBC Radio 4 Today, saying the report’s stories were “heart-breaking” and that “These young lives ended far too soon.” In the same BBC account, he recalled his own transition at 18, telling listeners, “I was made to live alone and work out how to be an adult,” after being unable to afford a bed frame and sleeping on a mattress on the floor of his council flat. The Guardian’s David* story described a death from a lack of insulin after a care leavers’ hub closed for three weeks for refurbishment, and it quoted the review saying: “It is notable that there was no one in David’s life who was connected enough to notice his absence”.
Josh MacAlister, the children’s minister, said in the Guardian that “In all of these stories, one person could have been the difference,” adding that a young man “should never have died” if he had “his own people, his own tribe”. The review also highlighted variation in support from personal advisers, saying minimum visiting requirements of once every two months meant it was “not surprising” that some PAs “hardly knew the young person they were supporting”.
What changes next
The Government announced £25 million for its Staying Close programme, which aims to help care leavers up to the age of 25 stay in settled accommodation rather than being moved on alone at 18 and provides a named adult who stays in touch. The review described the programme as part of a wider effort to address the “care cliff,” and the BBC said the government is driving forward a national rollout of connected housing options starting with £25 million this year. From September 30, the BBC said new duties will require local authorities to publish how they will support care leavers into independent living, and from that date a young person who has left care can no longer be found intentionally homeless.
The BBC also said the report calls for better ways to prepare young people for adulthood and an overhaul of the workforce supporting them, with support provided through personal advisers varying “from place to place” and showing “a huge variation” in quality of practice. Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister told the BBC that “Care must build and not break the relationships that young people need, and this must be the new North Star,” framing the risk as one that can be reduced by ensuring “enduring relationships” remain central to the care system.