Young carers: unknown and underserved

THE ISSUE

The Children and Families Act 2014, Section 96, defines a young carer as ‘… a person under 18 (5–17) who provides or intends to provide care for another person. A person is not a young carer if the person provides or intends to provide care under or by virtue of a contract, or as voluntary work.’¹ With the Care Act 2014, it extended the rights to a needs assessment to all young carers under the age of 18 regardless of who they care for, what type of care they provide, or how often they provide it.²

A survey in 2018 asking 925 children in England to outline if they provide care, and to describe the care provided and to whom, reveals the extent of caring by children is much higher than previous estimates.³ If results of the research reflect the country as a whole, then there are over 800 000 secondary school children (aged 11–16 years) in England caring for an individual at home, and that approximately 7% of young people have a significant caring role in the home for an ill or disabled relative.

Of the 200 identified as young carers, 177 responded fully about the care they give. The scores from 56 (32%) of children showed them to being carrying out a high level of caring, with 16 (9%) of children doing a very high level of caring. The results show that most frequently responders cared for their mother (46%, n = 91) and siblings (40%, n = 46). Physical illness was most frequently cited as their reason for caring (35%, n = 70), followed by …