YOUNG adults leaving care in England face a death rate four times higher than the general population, a government-commissioned review found today.

The loss of “significant levers of support” for people leaving care when they turn 18 often means they are suddenly left “with no safety net and with catastrophic consequences,” the report said.

Profound isolation also contributed to the deaths of 100 care leavers, researchers found, pointing to those left alone “at the height of vulnerability,” with some losing their social worker, foster parent or children’s nurse as soon as they turn 18.

The report counted 112 deaths among care leavers aged 18 to 24 last year, putting the estimated death rate at approximately 130 deaths per 100,000 — about three times higher than the death rate in the general population.

And 22 of the deaths were for people aged 18, more than any other age range recorded in the findings, with researchers saying this potentially represented a death rate five times higher than the general population.

Broadcaster Ashley John-Baptiste and social worker Clare Chamberlain co-authored the review.

Mr John-Baptiste said it revealed a “national tragedy that many care-experienced young people are dying so early in life.”

Calling the care cliff a “stain on the care system,” he added he was struck by how poor leaving care personal advisers were in knowing the basic details about the care leaver.

Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister said: “Care must build and not break the relationships that young people need, and this must be the new north star.”

He said the report revealed tragic stories which “must galvanise us to make sure that no-one leaving care is left isolated and alone.”