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Young people with caring responsibilities are more than twice as likely as their peers to be persistently NEET (not in employment, education, or training) for a period of two years or more, according to new research published in June by Carers Trust, University College London, and City St George’s, University of London.
The new data also highlights significant inequalities in progression through further and higher education. It shows that young carers are 40 per cent less likely to complete a further education qualification, 31 per cent less likely to attend higher education, and 37 per cent less likely to achieve a degree-level qualification.
Crucially, the research outlines that these inequalities cannot be explained by socioeconomic background alone. The researchers are now calling on the Government to treat young carers as a priority group within efforts to reduce youth unemployment and improve participation in education and training.
This is a particularly pressing issue, as the charity Carers Trust estimates that around one million children and young people in the UK are young carers.
However, too often, insufficient support is prohibiting them from balancing schooling with caring, and these barriers are having direct consequences on their life chances.
“Young carers are 40 per cent less likely to complete a further education qualification”
What is a young carer?
A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who cannot cope without their support because of illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction. A young carer is a carer under the age of 18.
Older young carers are also known as young adult carers and they may have different support needs to younger carers.
The responsibility of a young carer is wide and varied, and might include:
- Practical tasks like cooking, housework and shopping
- Physical care, such as helping someone out of bed
- Emotional support, including talking to someone who is distressed
- Personal care, such as helping with getting dressed
- Managing the family budget and collecting prescriptions
- Helping to give medicine
- Helping someone communicate
- Looking after brothers and sisters.
Sometimes people refer to carers as full-time carers or part-time carers, but there is not a minimum time requirement that means someone is more or less of a carer.
The impact of caring
Caring for someone can be isolating, worrying and stressful – and for young carers especially, it can negatively impact their education and their confidence.
Speaking at the Young Carers Futures Conference in London last year, Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver acknowledged that:
“Overall, young carers experience higher exclusion and suspension rates compared to their peers; they’re more likely to miss school, more likely to struggle with getting their homework done, and more likely to experience mental health challenges – and all these things have a knock-on impact on getting an education, and on getting on in life."
Sir Martin added that schools themselves can struggle, for various reasons, to identify the young carers in their classrooms and therefore fail to provide
the support that young carers need.
According to the charity Action for Children, one in three young carers also find that their caring role makes them feel stressed; and 23 per cent say that being a carer has stopped them making friends.
Another problem for young carers is recognising themselves as such. In fact, data from Action for Children shows that it’s usually only when they reach secondary school that they realise their home life is different from that of their friends.
In addition, research by Carers Trust found that eight out of 10 young carers feel lonely during summer holidays, and more than a third do not look forward to summer.
Resources to share with young carers
- Carers Trust helps young carers to cope via specialised services delivered by its network of local organisations across the UK.
- Services include providing information and guidance; activities and breaks; peer and community support; training in subjects such as health and safety, wellbeing and life skills, and support when applying for appropriate benefits.
- For more information, visit carers.org
- The Young Carers Alliance is a growing network of over 290 organisations and 1,000 individuals supporting young carers, young adult carers and their families by providing opportunities for collaboration and sharing best practice.
- For more information, email youngcarersalliance@carers.org
Support for young carers
Community pharmacy teams have always provided support for carers via the wide range of services they provide.
Previous research by Carers Week found that 67 per cent of carers rated pharmacy as the ‘most carer-friendly’ service of all community services across health, social care, work, transport and education.
NHS England’s Commitment to Carers document, published in June 2019, stated that 70 per cent of carers come into contact with health professionals.
However, health professionals only identify one in 10 carers, with 66 per cent of carers feeling that healthcare staff do not help to signpost them to relevant information or support.
This shows there is a big opportunity for pharmacy teams to do more to identify carers – particularly young carers – and signpost them to the information and support they need.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has produced two template leaflets to help pharmacy teams advise carers about the services they may offer, such as:
- Dispensing NHS and private prescriptions
- NHS repeat dispensing
- Repeat prescription collection service
- Prescription delivery service
- Disposing of unwanted medicines
- Emergency supplies of medicines
- NHS New Medicine Service (NMS) health and self-care advice, for the carer and the person they care for
- Flu vaccinations and helping carers or the person they care for to take medicines.
These services can have a massive impact in helping all carers, but are even more important when it comes to identifying young carers who have less experience themselves of what community pharmacies can offer.
Pharmacy teams also have a vital role to play in signposting young carers to other services and organisations that can help, such as referring them to their local authority or carers services for additional support.
Indeed, Carers Trust stresses that community pharmacies are in “a unique position to recognise children who may be young carers”, because of their position “at the heart of the community” since pharmacists and pharmacy staff “often develop supportive relationships with regular customers”.
Fair Futures for Young Carers
Thanks to National Lottery players, Carers Trust has received almost £5 million over five years from The National Lottery Community Fund to expand support for young carers in education across England, Scotland and Wales.
The Fair Futures for Young Carers (FFYC) programme is designed to help create a culture that is supportive of young carers across 3,000 schools and colleges, raising their profile and amplifying their voices.
Delivered in partnership with The Children’s Society and nine local carer services within the Carers Trust network, it will prioritise the most deprived 10 per cent of local authorities.
The programme builds on over a decade of learning from the Young Carers in Schools (YCiS) initiative.
A recent evaluation found that schools using the YCiS approach identified three times as many young carers as non-participating schools, and that young carers missed six per cent fewer school days.
Around 10 per cent of students are young carers, yet schools in England currently identify only 0.8 per cent of pupils as such.
FFYC aims to end this postcode lottery of support, with young carers involved directly in how the programme is designed and delivered.
Big, small actions
The charity also points out that pharmacies and pharmacy staff should make sure they are familiar with Royal College of Pharmacy’s guidance covering collection and purchase of medicines by children as well as their own internal standard operating procedures (SOPs).
In addition, pharmacies that identify a young carer or a patient who is supported by a young carer are advised to log this information on the Patient Medication Record (PMR) for future reference.
It is also worth bearing in mind that although some young people who are the sole carers in the family will have a good understanding of medicines management, if new medications are being collected, it is important to proactively offer them the opportunity to ask any questions they might have.
A good way of covering all of these aspects of supporting young carers is to appoint a Carers Lead or Carers Champion to take responsibility for making sure the pharmacy is carer-aware, and that policies and procedures recognise and support the unique challenges facing young carers.
Pharmacies can promote carer awareness by displaying posters and relevant information, as well as getting in touch with local carers services, the ICB and local health board to ask if they have any tools, tips and advice to support the pharmacy to be more carer-aware.
Many local services will provide training, resources or outreach support to work with either staff or directly with patients that can help pharmacy teams better support the young carers they come into contact with.
With an estimated one million young carers in the UK, and too many of them still hidden in plain sight, the need for action has never been clearer.
Pharmacy teams are well placed to play a meaningful role, whether that is identifying a young carer at the counter, offering practical support through the services they provide, or signposting to specialist organisations.
Small moments of recognition can make a significant difference in the life of a child who is quietly doing far more than their fair share.
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