Children and Families Act: Young carers

What is happening?

Following years of work by campaigners, young carers will be entitled to the same help and support as adult carers. The legislation means that all young carers under the age of 18 will:

Who does it affect?

The changes will predominantly affect local authorities - both children's services and adult services departments.

Adult social care teams will be required to consider the needs of any children when deciding how best to support adults requiring care.

And children's services will be required to assess the situation in relation to how it impacts on the young person's life.

The changes also place emphasis on local authorities identifying young people who may be caring for an adult, as some young people may not realise they are entitled to support.

Implications for practice

Greater co-operation and communication between children's services and adult services will be vital in order to make a difference for young carers, says Moira Fraser, director of policy at the Carers Trust.

"Wherever a child is caring, children's services must work alongside adult services to find out why that child is caring, and try to address the needs of the adult and reduce the impact of the caring role."

"If the child's caring cannot be reduced and still has a negative impact, they have the right to an assessment and support of their own circumstances. At the moment, children are falling between adult and children's services."

A young carer's needs assessment must include an assessment of whether it is appropriate for the young carer to provide, or continue to provide, care for the person in question, in the light of the young carer's needs for support, other needs and wishes.

In carrying out a young carer's needs assessment, the local authority must involve the young carer and their parents.

After carrying out an assessment, the local authority must decide if the young carer needs support and whether or not to provide services.

Under the legislation, local authorities in England will also have to take "reasonable steps" to identify young carers in their area who need support.

Unresolved issues

It is unclear exactly how many young carers there are. The widely quoted estimate is 160,000, but it is believed there are likely to be far more. Part of the problem is that many young people do not realise they are a young carer, and others fear that they could be taken into care if they come forward.

"We still struggle to identify young carers," Fraser says.

"Despite the fact there is much greater recognition of the issue, we struggle to get referrals through at an early stage. We need schools and the NHS to take a far more proactive approach."

The majority of referrals come from children's services, schools and children's mental health services.

Campaigners say GPs and health professionals are in a good position to identify young carers by asking simple questions if an adult shows up at an appointment with a young person accompanying them.

"The responsibility of the NHS in terms of identification is very minimal at the moment - and that is something we need to keep looking at," Fraser says.

The Carers Trust also wants schools to establish a clear framework of support for young carers, and to appoint a named teacher to provide help and advice on academic studies to young carers.

Its call comes on the back of a study by the charity, published in November, which found that half of 295 young adult carers questioned had received no additional support from their school to help them cope with their caring duties.

Beyond this, there are questions about how financially burdensome the new duty could be for local authorities - both in terms of assessing a young carer's needs and providing support for them.

"Because there is no more money, I'm concerned that local authorities are scratching their heads, thinking 'I have no idea how I am going to do this'," Fraser says.

"As with everything, there is the risk it can be implemented in a way that means the least change.

"The legislation fundamentally changes the way young carers are recognised in our view, but, as ever, it is going to be about how things will play out in the associated regulations, and we are only at the start of discussions on that framework."

Number of unpaid young carers

160,000 - (Children's Society estimate)

290,000 - (Carers Trust estimate for those aged 16-24)

700,000 - (BBC estimate based on research)