Young Carers Day
25 January 2018
It’s hard to imagine that there are over 700,000 young carers in the UK, many of whom have no help or support. Young carers are unfortunately very overlooked, and people underestimate not only the work they do but the vulnerability and needs of the people they support.
A young carer is someone aged 18 or under who helps look after a relative who has a condition, such as a disability, illness, mental health condition, or a drug or alcohol problem.
Young carers often have to care for younger siblings as well as the person they’re caring for – they also do housework and on top of all this their school work and homework. Unbelievably there are carers as young as 5 and the average age of a young carer is 13.
Only half of young carers have a particular person in school who recognises that they are a carer and helps them. This demonstrates just how much more needs to be done to acknowledge young carers and support them.
There are many things you can do to help support young carers, whether it’s being more aware and putting systems in place to help and support them in your schools, workplace, or community. You can also educate people you work with to do more to support your local young carers organisation.
Young carers are often left in the dark or overlooked because of their age and feel they don’t have a voice to ask for help. You can help be a voice for a young person. If you want to find out more about what you can do, or if you’re a young carer yourself who would like some help, support and guidance you can contact Carers Direct helpline: 0300 123 1053.
If you are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing or have impaired speech, you can contact the Carers Direct helpline using textphone or minicom number 0300 123 1004.
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