Welcome to NNECL, the UK's largest network of widening participation, education and leaving care professionals supporting young people with experience of care, or who are estranged to thrive through further and higher education.
Our vision is a society where children and young people with care backgrounds are empowered to achieve their full educational potential. Our mission is to create educational environments where young people from care, estranged or sanctuary seeking backgrounds thrive.
Education should give every young person the chance to build a secure and fulfilling future. But for those with care experience, the extra barriers and challenges they face means this promise is too often out of reach, despite their potential.
Around 10,000 young people leave the care of thier local authority each year, yet just 15% go on to higher education by the time they are 19, compared to 47% of their working class peers. The numbers are more start for apprenticeships where care leavers are undertaking just 2%. As a result of these low numbers, care leavers across the UK are identified as a priority group needing additional support to drive up thier participation in vocational and degree apprenticeships as well as further and higher education.
NNECL is the only organisation in the UK solely dedicated to transforming care leavers educational attainment. We have over 100 organisations in active membership, including universities and colleges, foster agencies, local authority leaving care teams, virtual schools and charities. Through our membership and strategic partnerships, we are proud to reach a community of more than 800 professionals who participate in our events and benefit from our regular policy and practice updates so they can best support the 5000+ care experienced and estranged learners attending their institutions.
NNECL began as a volunteer network in 2013, run by higher education institutions and national organisations committed to the progression and support of care experienced students in further and higher education. We are the only not for profit organisation solely dedicated to transforming the educational outcomes of young people with care experience.
We registered as a charity in 2018. Today our network includes over 100 universities, colleges, foster agencies, local authority leaving care teams, virtual schools, independent consultants, and charities. Through these partnerships we support over 300 individual practitioners, creating a vibrant community of more than 800 professionals collectively working with over 5,000+ learners from care and estranged backgrounds.
Our work supports, connects, inspires and empowers our community, with whom we share our overarching ambition, for more young people with care backgrounds to consider, access and flourish through degree apprenticeships, further and higher education into fulfilling careers and financially secure lives.
Our National Strategy Group (NSG) includes nominated regional representatives from further or higher education and members of national organisations. Together we form strategic links between educational providers, their networks and national organisations and agencies.
We are immensely proud of our Quality Mark, an evidence-based, impact-driven change management framework that enables universities and colleges to demonstrate their commitment to supporting the inclusion and success of students with care experience and those who are estranged.
NNECL does not lobby or endorse products, nor do we allow commercial or political pressure to influence us when publishing or sharing information. We safeguard our impartiality through the strong governance of our Board of Trustees who are responsible for our strategic objectives, financial security and compliance.
Our values shape our organisation and everything we do. Equality We are working for a fair society which is inclusive and celebrates diversity. Initiative We seek out effective educational practices and create opportunities. Collaboration We achieve more by working together to build relationships and provide personalised support. Making a difference We produce useful, evidence-based work which contributes to systemic change.
As a proudly independent charity we earn our income through membership, training and consultancy, Quality Mark assessment fees, donations, and grants from generous funders. We do not have property or endowment funds and receive no funding from central government.
We welcome working in partnership with organisations who are well placed to deliver change at scale. Find out how you can get involved and make a difference and transform the educational opportunities for care experienced people.
Our work supports, connects, inspires and empowers our community with whom we share our overarching ambition, for more young people with care experience to consider, access and flourish through further and higher education into fulfilling careers.
NNECL is unashamedly ambitious for all children in care and care leavers, we want a future where we have cut off at source the poor practices leaving people with care backgrounds without the opportunities needed to thrive into adulthood and enjoy the security of a career which sustains them for life. We lean into the excellent work already in place and boldly work with the sector to enable significant and lasting change to drastically improve care experienced children’s educational outcomes.
To achieve the systemic change needed to transform care leavers education outcomes across the post-16 education sector we we advocate for:
1. The NNECL Quality Mark, being mandatory for HE and FE institutions across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
2. The Care Leavers Covenant being mandatory for all sixth forms, further education colleges and higher education providers.
3. A revised UK-wide minimum offer for local authorities so that all young care leavers know what support they can access to further their education post-16.
4. Increasing the minimum local authority offer of support for students entering post-16 education from 25 to 30 recognising care leavers unique challenges.
How we'll get there - our priorities to 2027.
NNECL, is the UK’s only organisation solely dedicated to transforming the educational outcomes of young people with experience of being in care.
We work with colleges, universities, UCAS, Office for Students, DfE, education practitioners and care system professionals to transform the progression of young people from care, estranged backgrounds into and through further and higher education, including higher apprenticeships, so they can enjoy fulfilling careers which will sustain them for life.
Our work was cited as best practice in Josh MacAlister’s 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Our Quality Mark is described as ‘gold standard’ by the sector for enhancing the educational outcomes for care experienced and estranged students.
Following Greater Manchester Combined Authorities lead, in May 2025, The London Assembly recommended all London universities should work with NNECL and work towards the Quality Mark.
In November 2025 we awarded our 50th Quality Mark to University of Cambridge.
Also in November 2025 we won the CYPN Leaving Care Award.
In December 2025, Minister MacAlister wrote to all Vice Chancellors in England asking them undertake the NNECL Quality Mark.
As a membership organisation the best people to tell our story are our members and their students.
NNECL exists because the system isn’t working for care-experienced learners. While statutory funding is intended to support their educational success, gaps remain and our work fills those gaps. We welcome working with partners who support care leavers and who can help drive systemic change.
We combine our sector knowledge and lived-experience with in-depth research to deliver a evidence-based approach to our consultancy services.
National Expertise. Local Impact.
With extensive expertise in care-experienced education, NNECL provides bespoke consultancy to help institutions improve support for care leavers. All consultancy fees are reinvested into our mission, ensuring that our national advocacy remains independent and robust.
Our Consultancy Rates
We operate a tiered fee structure:
Standard Day Rate: £450 + expenses
NNECL Member Rate: £315 + expenses
We are proud to offer our members a 30% discount across our consultancy services
Social Value Pricing: £250
To support the wider ecosystem, this discretionary rate is available for small non-profits and community organisations with an annual turnover of less than £80,000.
Partnering with NNECL means more than consultancy: it’s a way to drive meaningful change for care-experienced learners while strengthening your institution’s approach and impact.
As a membership organisation, we ensure the information shared with our network is timely, relevant, and valuable. We prioritise sharing updates from individuals and organisations who are actively engaged in our work or contributing to sustaining our network. Our newsletters are sent monthly and NNECL retains editorial control of content.
Over the past 20 years, care leavers have been extensively researched, so here at NNECL we focus on sharing surveys led by care-experienced young people or studies exploring new areas of research.
