Ending the Cliff Edge for Young People: Growing Up Shouldn’t Mean Starting Again

Turning 18 should be a milestone. For too many young people who need care and support, it can also become a boundary between two systems.

One day, somebody is a child supported through children’s services.

Then they become an adult.

Their disability hasn’t suddenly changed.

Their learning needs haven’t disappeared.

Their relationships haven’t reset.

Their family hasn’t stopped caring.

But the legislation, eligibility criteria, funding routes, professionals and services around them can change.

We call this transition.

When it works, it should help a young person build an adult life.

When it doesn’t, it can feel like a cliff edge.

And importantly, the law was specifically designed to prevent that happening.

There shouldn’t be a cliff edge at 18

The Care Act 2014 contains specific transition provisions for young people likely to need care and support after they turn 18.

Where a young person is likely to have needs for care and support after 18, a local authority must carry out a transition assessment where it considers there would be significant benefit in doing so. Young carers and adults caring for children can also be entitled to transition assessments. (GOV.UK)

Planning does not have to wait until somebody’s 18th birthday.

In fact, NHS guidance says transition planning should begin by Year 9 — around age 13 or 14 — at the latest, and should be an ongoing process tailored to the young person rather than a single handover meeting. (nhs.uk)

NHS — Moving from children’s social care to adult social care

GOV.UK — Care Act transition guidance

That gives us a useful starting principle:

Transition should be a journey, not a birthday.

A young person’s life doesn’t divide into departments

One of the problems with transition is that systems can look at different pieces of a young person’s life separately.

Education.

Health.

Social care.

Mental health.

Housing.

Employment.

Benefits.

Family support.

Community life.

But the young person experiences all of those things as one life.

NHS England’s new 2026 transition guidance recognises precisely this problem. It calls for transition planning across health, social care, SEND, education, learning disability and autism services, housing, employment, hospices, social prescribing and the voluntary sector. (NHS England)

For young people receiving continuing-care support, NHS England recommends early engagement — good practice from age 11–12 and no later than 14 — alongside a transition plan and named keyworker who remains involved until the young person is settled into adult services where applicable. (NHS England)

NHS England — Supporting young people to transition into adolescent and adult services

This is much closer to the model we should be aiming for:

one young person → one journey → organisations working around them.

Not:

one young person → multiple systems → multiple handovers → family joins the dots.

Ask about adulthood, not simply adult services

There is another distinction that matters.

Preparing somebody for adult services is not the same thing as preparing somebody for adult life.

The Care Act guidance talks about aspirations and outcomes such as employment, health, education and independence. (GOV.UK)

So transition planning should start with the young person.

What do they want their life to look like?

Where might they live?

What relationships matter?

What would they like to learn?

Could they work?

What support would make employment possible?

How will they participate in their community?

What makes them happy?

What does independence mean to them?

For somebody with substantial lifelong needs, independence may not mean doing everything without help.

It could mean having greater choice, voice and control over how help is provided.

That is still adulthood.

The family’s transition matters too

At 18, parents don’t suddenly stop being parents.

For some families, they may have spent years coordinating appointments, education, medication, therapies, equipment, transport and support.

Then adulthood changes the legal landscape.

Decision-making changes.

Consent changes.

Services change.

Benefits may change.

The relationship between professionals, the young person and their parents changes.

And the needs of the parent or family carer can change too.

That is why the Care Act’s transition provisions don’t only consider the young person. They also provide for assessments of young carers and adults caring for children approaching adulthood. (GOV.UK)

A good transition therefore asks two separate questions:

What will this young person need to live their adult life?

and:

What will the people supporting them need as that relationship changes?

Continuity is a right worth knowing about

This is particularly important for families.

The Care Act was explicitly designed to prevent a young person already receiving children’s support simply losing that support at 18 while adult-care arrangements are still being decided.

Government guidance says existing children’s support should continue through the assessment process until adult care and support is in place to take over — or until assessment establishes that adult care and support does not need to be provided. (GOV.UK)

That is an important protection.

Because families should not be left thinking:

“They’re 18 now. Children’s services have finished. You’ll have to wait for adult services.”

Where support is already being provided, transition should be planned so that the young person isn’t simply dropped into a gap between systems.

Eligibility can still change

Continuity doesn’t mean that children’s and adult services are identical.

Different legal frameworks and eligibility tests can apply.

For example, NHS England explicitly warns families that eligibility for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care does not automatically mean someone will qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare after 18. (NHS England)

Similarly, educational support and social-care support operate through different frameworks.

An Education, Health and Care Plan can continue beyond 18 in appropriate circumstances, and some young people with SEND need longer to complete education and training. Current guidance recognises that young people with complex needs may require children’s services, adult social care, housing and health services to work together to achieve a smooth transition. (GOV.UK)

GOV.UK — EHC plans for young people aged 19 to 25

This is why early planning matters.

The earlier everybody knows what might change, the more time there is to prepare.

SEND reform makes this especially important now

This conversation is particularly timely.

The Government’s 2026 SEND reforms are proposing significant changes to the system across England, while retaining Education, Health and Care Plans for young people who need them under the proposed future arrangements. The reforms also place renewed emphasis on preparing young people for employment, independent living, health and active community life. (GOV.UK)

The Government says it intends local authorities and Integrated Care Boards to work together more effectively, with multidisciplinary support and greater involvement of children, young people and families in decisions. (GOV.UK)

GOV.UK — SEND reform: putting children and young people first

The direction matters.

But One Social Care should keep asking the same question we ask of every reform:

What does the change actually feel like at the other end?

A smoother administrative transition is useful.

A better life is the outcome.

What should a good transition look like?

Perhaps we need to stop thinking about transition primarily as transferring a case from one department to another.

A good transition would mean that a young person knows:

Who is helping me?

What will change?

What will stay the same?

What choices do I have?

Where will I live, learn, work and belong?

Who do I contact when something goes wrong?

What happens to the people who currently support me?

And:

What does my adult life look like beyond services?

Those questions are understandable without professional knowledge.

That is important.

A transition system that only professionals can understand is not genuinely person-centred.

Information families can use

If you are approaching this transition now, these are useful starting points:

NHS — Moving from children’s to adult social care

GOV.UK — Care Act transition rights and assessments

NHS England — 2026 transition guidance

NHS England — SEND information and support

GOV.UK — SEND reform and current proposals

One Social Care provides general information and signposting rather than individual legal advice. Individual circumstances differ, and this article focuses primarily on arrangements in England.

Who. What. Why. When. Wonder.

Who? Young people approaching adulthood, their families and carers — alongside children’s services, adult social care, health, SEND, education, housing, employment services and community organisations.

What? A planned journey into adulthood in which support, information and responsibility move around the young person rather than expecting the young person to navigate disconnected systems.

Why? Because turning 18 doesn’t change somebody’s needs overnight.

When? Years before the handover becomes urgent. Transition planning should begin early enough to create choices rather than manage a crisis. (nhs.uk)

Wonder: What if we stopped asking whether a young person was ready for adult services and started asking whether our adult systems were ready for the young person?

Take it into The Exchange

For young people, families, carers and professionals:

What is the one thing that should never be lost when somebody moves from children’s to adult services?

Their relationships?

Their support?

Their information?

Their voice?

Their ambitions?

Their named worker?

Something else?

And a second question for the system:

If we started planning for adulthood at 14 rather than reacting at 17, what could we do differently?

Because the objective shouldn’t simply be to get somebody safely across the boundary at 18.

It should be to make sure there is no cliff edge there in the first place.