Hana Rajabally discovers how a Barnet-based charity is helping care leavers thrive through driving lessons

A montage of photos of young people supported by Barnet Charity Driving Ahead

A Barnet-based charity that supports young people in care and care leavers is celebrating its fifth year of its scheme providing free driving lessons for care leavers.

Live Unlimited, which provides a number of different programmes to help those in and leaving Barnet Council’s care with employability, health and wellbeing, launched Driving Ahead in 2019. A total of 23 Barnet care leavers have gained their licence through the scheme so far.

Holly Grant, 23, gained her driving licence last summer after Driving Ahead provided her with a total of 25 hours of driving lessons.

Holly, who is a student nurse and volunteer at charity Street Doctors, said: “I started getting driving lessons in 2021 which I paid for by myself but I couldn’t afford to keep paying for them, so I applied for the Driving Ahead scheme provided by Live Unlimited.”

She told Barnet Post that she learned to drive over about two years, and changed instructors around five or six times during that period, receiving lots of support from Live Unlimited in helping her find the right instructor for her.

Holly later found out that she has dyspraxia, a condition which affects movement and coordination, explaining why she struggled to find an instructor who was able to provide proper support in her driving lessons.

As well as the difficulties of finding a suitable instructor, Holly also faced both practical and financial challenges when attempting to book her exams.

The combined cost of lessons and exams can reach over £1700, which is often not financially feasible for most young people leaving care.

But these costs can rise even more if you are not able to pass your practical exams within two years of passing your theory exam (and therefore need to take the theory exam again).

Holly ran into this problem when she tried to book her practical exam in June 2023. She said: “It was a real nightmare getting a driving test because no one was offering them, everything was backlogged. People were bulk-buying tests and then selling them at double the price. Live Unlimited actually supported me getting tests … because otherwise my driving theory certificate would have run out.”

Despite these many challenges, Holly passed her practical driving exam first time in June 2023.

Driving Ahead was launched by Live Unlimited as a pilot scheme for 12 care leavers in May 2019 in partnership with AA Driving School which delivers the lessons.

The driving scheme provides any Barnet care leaver with up to 46 hours of free driving lessons, and provides additional support to young people taking driving lessons.

The Driving Ahead scheme is currently providing eleven care leavers with free driving lessons and has twelve people on their waiting list who are eager to start learning to drive.

Now that Holly has her licence, she says her life has been completely transformed: including the chance to travel the country doing voluntary work.

Holly said: “In the past nine months I’ve done over 12,000 miles in my car, so it’s really changed my life a lot. I’ve driven my car every single day since last August to go to work, and I’ve used it to go on holiday to Cornwall a few times.”

She explained that having a car has greatly improved her mental health as she is able to partake in leisure activities such as driving to see the sunrise or sunset in locations that are special to her.

Being able to drive has also helped Holly with her anxiety, as she told Barnet Post: “I’m neurodivergent, so public transport is really difficult for me. Having a car has helped me so much.”

Holly says that most schemes for care leavers provide essential services such as housing but she believes that gaining a driving licence can be almost as important: “Driving is seen as a luxury, not a necessity, but it is a necessity for some young people,” Holly said, citing her own experience.

Alongside her other commitments, Holly is also a Trustee at Live Unlimited and is taking part in a skydive this July alongside two other Trustees to raise money for Live Unlimited’s schemes for those in and leaving care.

The skydiving event, called Leap for Care, aims to raise £2000 for a variety of Live Unlimited’s schemes, including a bespoke careers mentoring programme for care leavers, funded theatre experiences, a forest school activity scheme to help children in care connecting with nature and making friends, and of course the Driving Ahead scheme.

Holly said: “I’ve always been desperate to do a skydive, and I’m really excited to finally be able to do it in order to raise money for young people in care and care leavers.”

If you’d like to donate to Holly’s skydiving fundraiser, please visit: https://liveunlimited.enthuse.com/pf/leapforcare

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