Briefing / How it works – Children and young people’s continuing care

Children and young people’s continuing care is an ongoing package of care to meet health needs arising from disability, accident or illness that cannot be met by existing universal or specialist services alone. It covers young people up until their 18^th birthday. After that point, the assessment framework for NHS continuing healthcare (NHS CHC) applies.

The child or young person’s clinical commissioning group (CCG) is usually the responsible commissioner for their continuing care. There are circumstances where NHS England and NHS Improvement will hold this role, such as for children of service personnel, or for specialised services.

Continuing care is undertaken as a multi-agency, needs led approach; involving health, social care and education.

This briefing gives an overview of children and young people’s continuing care, picking up some of the terms that are commonly used, but may not be fully understood. This guide is intended to give a basic understanding for those working in NHS finance teams. It should not be used to administer children and young people’s continuing care. Links to further reading and guidance are provided in the final section.