The hidden helpers

Given their huge numbers, young carers do not seem to get the attention they deserve. The Office for National Statistics last month released the 2011 census figures, which indicated there were 244,000 carers under the age of 19 in England. Ten thousand of these were under the age of seven.

Shocking as these figures might appear, children’s campaigners warn that they in fact represent just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, a survey of secondary school pupils by the BBC in 2010 suggested there were up to 700,000 young carers across the UK. “A lot of the time, children and young people do not even recognise themselves as carers. They’ve grown up that way and it is the only way they know,” says Emma Smale, senior policy and parliamentary officer at the Carers Trust.

The Children’s Society believes their total numbers could even exceed one million. Around 700,000 children are estimated to live with a dependent drinker, while 350,000 live with a problematic drug user, according to the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs. Many of these young people are likely to have caring roles.

The Children’s Society last month published a report, Hidden from View, based on tracking 15,000 young carers aged 13 and 14 over several years. The results illustrate the strain on many areas of their lives. It found that at least one in 12 young carers spends more than 15 hours a week caring for a relative, and about one in 20 misses school because of their caring role. Their caring responsibilities include administering medication, bathing an adult and dealing with mental health, alcohol or drug issues.

There is also a detrimental effect on school attainment. The report found GCSE grades for young carers were on average nine grades lower than their peers (the difference, say, between nine Bs and nine Cs). They are also at greater risk of child poverty. Annual income for families with a young carer is on average £5,000 lower than for those who do not have a young carer.

Job and training prospects are also affected. An Audit Commission report in 2010 found three quarters of young carers aged between 16 and 18 had been not in education, employment or training (Neet) at least once, compared with a quarter of their peers.

Jenny Frank manages the Children’s Society’s Include programme for young carers. She says: “Emotional problems are common among this group. Some are angry about why this has happened to their family. Many often keep themselves to themselves.”

This year’s Carers Week (10-16 June) will see a focus on young carers, with schools targeted to help identify and support this group of children. The charities involved are calling for every school to appoint a lead teacher with responsibility for young carers. Smale says: “Schools can do a lot more, such as offering flexible study options and allowing young carers to have mobile phones switched on during class in case there are problems at home.

“We still hear from schools saying they don’t have any young carers, which is simply not true.”

Right to support
But there is a general frustration that current legislation overlooks the needs of young carers, and that more should be done to strengthen their right to support.

Frank argues that the Care Bill, which began its passage through parliament in May, presents “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is in danger of being lost”.

The bill aims to strengthen the rights of adults who care for other adults and place a legal duty on councils to identify and support carers in need, rather than wait for them to ask for help.

The Carers Trust, on behalf of the National Young Carers Coalition of charities, is leading lobbying efforts to ensure the same rights apply to young carers.

But the Department of Health (DH) says young carers are already supported in children’s law, most prominently the Children Act 1989. A DH spokeswoman says the Care Bill includes a “whole family approach when assessing the needs of an adult requiring care”. This will include an assessment of whether a young person is “taking on inappropriate levels of caring responsibilities”.

Smale fears that in its current form, the bill leaves young carers in a weak position, and says that the focus of children’s legislation on safeguarding and whether a child is in need is “not appropriate for many young carers”.

The Children and Families Bill may also provide a vehicle by which to strengthen support for young carers. David Holmes, chief executive of Family Action, says: “We’d like to see a new duty on all schools to require them to identify young carers in the school population and make arrangements to promote their education and wellbeing.”

Without such legal changes, campaigners fear support will continue to be piecemeal, with only some areas offering a robust package of support for young carers and their families as a whole.

She says young carers are often caught between services: “A common situation a young carer will face is that children’s services will pass their case to adult services because they deal with assessments of carers, but because they do not have the skills to assess the needs of children, they will pass it back to children’s services again.”

Integrated support
To avoid that scenario, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services created a “local memorandum of understanding” a few years ago. It is intended for directors of children’s services and adult social services to help young carers by integrating support for families with care needs and ensuring protection from harm.

The Children’s Society has been monitoring take-up of the memorandum; over the past two years, the number of councils that have used it – downloading it as a basis to create their own memorandum – has risen from 11 to 70.

ADCS president Andrew Webb describes the overall take-up as “disappointing”, but says that some of the remaining authorities may already have their own agreements in place. He wants to see a duty in the Care Bill for adult and children’s services to work together to support families.

But he warns that even if such co-operation was to exist in statute, “the biggest barrier is simply lack of resources”. He says that councils are already cutting vital sources of support such as respite trips. Local authorities’ main revenue stream for young carers comes through the early intervention grant, which is not ringfenced.

While some councils are still meeting the full cost of young carer support, which is mostly commissioned out to charities, others are only meeting part of the cost (see Cambridgeshire box). Other sources include the Big Lottery Fund’s £30m Youth In Focus programme, intended for care leavers and custody leavers as well as young carers.

For its part, the Department for Education has contributed £1.2m of funding over the next two years to the Prevention Through Partnership Programme. This aims to improve partnerships between adult and children’s services, and raise awareness about young carers in schools.

But on the ground, many schools appear resistant. Tanya Parr is commissioning officer for the London Borough of Islington’s children’s partnerships. Islington and neighbouring Camden jointly commission Family Action to work with schools to improve young carer support. 

“The feedback I have is that they are having less success engaging secondary schools,” says Parr, who adds “it could be the pressure of work”.

As legislation affecting carers’ roles and families’ wellbeing passes through parliament, campaigners are eager not to allow the opportunity to improve support for the hidden hordes of young carers throughout the country to pass by.

Life as a young carer

“During the week, I usually get up around 6.30am. I check on my Mam, get myself dressed and go downstairs to make us some breakfast and a cup of tea. I have to care for my Mam because she accidentally injured herself and now can’t work as she has difficulty getting about.

“Some mornings I have to get chores done like putting out the bin. I set off for college, where I am studying for my GCSEs, at about 7.40am. I phone my Mam from college to make sure she is okay. 

“Her carer comes three times a day – to dress her later in the morning, and again at teatime and at bedtime. Sometimes the carer takes my Mam shopping, which is brilliant for her. The rest of the work is done by me.

“When I get home, I make tea for us both. One of the things I make is a lovely beef curry. I do my coursework and then sit with my Mam to watch telly until the carer arrives at 10pm. Sometimes she is in a lot of pain.

“In a typical weekend, I can do anything from eight hours to 14 hours of caring. This includes making sure my Mam is okay and cleaning the house from top to bottom. I also do the shopping every two weeks and that is also done on a weekend.

“A group of us who work with the Young Carers Aloud project have made a film to mark this year’s national Carers Week. We wanted to make people realise how lucky they are not having to care for a family member with either a mental health issue, drug or alcohol problem, or physical disability.

“The idea of making the five-minute film is to make professionals watching it very emotional and more understanding of what it means to be a young carer.

“My involvement has been to compose a piece of music for the film. I have been a musician for just over nine years and play the 3rd Bb-Flat Cornet. I have composed about eight pieces of music that have been used in several pantomimes and plays.

“The piece of music for the film took me just over eight weeks. It took many draft pieces before creating the final piece that is getting used in the film.”

Sixteen-year-old Jake Thomson and his mother are supported by the Eastern Ravens Trust’s Young Carers Aloud project in Stockton-on-Tees, which is aided by Big Lottery’s Young People’s Fund


Case study: Blackburn

Blackburn with Darwen Council is among the 70 local authorities making use of the “local memorandum of understanding” to ensure adult and children’s services work together to support young carers and their families.

Deborah Gornik, the council’s head of prevention and partnership, children’s services, says: “This ensures that we have a whole-family approach, making sure we do not look at the carer or the family member they are caring for in isolation. At a strategic level, that means all those supporting the family know they have to work together.”

The council commissions the charity Child Action North West to provide various activities and emotional support to about 100 young carers at any one time.

Gornik says: “The service is offered very locally to the young people. We use schools and children’s centres, which ensures they can build up a support network that is close to their home rather than have them travel to a central location, as we used to do.”

Thirteen-year-old Grace was referred to the service by her school after her father’s mobility and mental health deteriorated due to a heart condition. Child Action North West worked alongside adult social workers to construct a support plan. This included emotional support for Grace and the chance for her to join its “chill nights”, which take place in the evenings to give young carers a break from their duties.

To reduce her caring workload at home, the adult social care team ensured a care worker was available to support Grace and her mother, who works full-time, in caring for her father. Respite support was also offered to Grace’s mother.

Gornik says: “The one-to-one sessions were really helpful as Grace was becoming very distressed by her father’s condition. Thankfully, he is doing better now and we have had really positive feedback from Grace and her family about the support.”

Child Action North West also works with schools in the area to raise awareness about the issues young carers face and ensure they are supporting young people such as Grace.


Case study: Cambridgeshire

The importance of offering young carers the chance to talk about their problems cannot be underestimated, according to Tracy Hyland.

She is manager of Crossroads Care’s young carers service in Huntingdonshire and the Fenlands in Cambridgeshire. “It is one of the most important ways of helping because of the feeling of isolation that they can face,” she says.

The service was launched in the area in 1997 and each year supports about 300 young carers aged eight to 18. In addition, the charity runs a young adult carer service, focusing on supporting young adults in finding work or courses.

The support on offer can take place in groups or on a one-to-one basis. Sessions can take place at schools to maximise access for young carers.

They have a strong focus on building their confidence and improving their social life.

“Sometimes it’s just a chance for them to be able to get their homework done,” says Hyland. The Crossroads team refers on particular problems, such as the health of the person being cared for, to other agencies.

In addition, the charity offers support through social media, with a presence on Twitter and Facebook as well as its own website. Hyland adds: “We keep our phones free for them to just ring up and have a chat if they need to.”

The service costs about £80,000 a year to run. Only part of the funding comes from Cambridgeshire County Council. Most of the cost is met through the charity’s local fundraising and donations, says Hyland. 

“The tough economic conditions are the biggest challenge we face and are putting an enormous strain on families, as well as what we can offer. On average, across the two areas, we usually have six new referrals a month. But in the last two weeks, we’ve had 15 cases from one area alone,” she adds.

The financial climate coupled with a spike in referrals have forced the charity to cut its range of services, with residential trips for young carers now shelved, says Hyland.