Young Carers Action Day 2023 – Make Time for Young Carers

Young Carers Action Day will take place on Wednesday 15th March 2023. The day raises awareness of young carers and young adult carers (aged up to 25 years old), who provide care and/or support to a family member, including siblings, or a friend, who could not manage without their help. This year’s theme is Make Time for Young Carers.

Actions to support young carers

Read the Young Carers Survey Report

Carers Trust conducted a survey of over 1100 young carers and young adult carers from across the UK earlier this year, and have published their findings ahead of the day. You can read the report here.

Headline survey findings

• 56% of respondents to Carers Trust survey say the cost-of-living crisis is always or usually hitting them and their family
• 32% say they always or usually face additional costs because they are a carer
• 56% say the time they spend caring has increased in the past year
• 47% are now caring for more people than they used to
• 40% either ‘never’ or ‘not often’ get help in school, college or university to balance caring and education work

We are asking everyone to pledge to an action to support the estimated 21,000 young carers in East Sussex.

Open letter to the Prime Minister

As part of the Young Carers Alliance we are calling upon the government to take urgent action, to put in place measures to ensure the needs of young carers are being considered so they receive the support they need from across government including supporting schools, colleges and universities to appoint a young carers lead, and extending carers allowance to those in full time education.

On the day itself, Carers Trust is taking a group of young carers and young adult carers to Westminster, where they will hand in an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for more support.

Our Chief Executive has signed this letter as we are part of the Young Carers Alliance. The Young Carers Alliance is a network of over 150 organisations and 300 individuals committed to improving support for young carers and young adult carers, hosted by national charity, Carers Trust.

To sign the letter, or to find out more about its contents, click here.

Pledge your support for Young Carers

While a number of changes have been made in recent years to support young carers, Carers Trust reported that from speaking to young carers and young adult carers, they know that they don’t feel their needs are being recognised by decision-makers, and that their rights are not clearly reflected in practice.

You can read and sign the pledge to support Young Carers and Young Adult Carers here.

Why do we need to support young carers?

Without support, a caring role can affect young carers in every area of their life. Research tells us that:

• 27% of young carers (aged 11–15) miss school or experience difficulties in education. This is 40% where children care for a relative with drug or alcohol problems. (Dearden & Becker 2004).

• Young carers are more likely than the national average not to be in education, employment or training (NEET) between the ages of 16 and 19. (The Children’s Society, Hidden from View, 2013).

• 23% of young carers feel their caring role had stopped them making friends and 2 in 3 young carers experience bullying in school.

• 45% of young carers report having a mental health problem. (Carers Trust, 2016)

What do young carers need?

Carers Trust spoke to hundreds of young carers across England, Wales and Scotland to find out what young carers want. The one thing that came up time and time again was how important their health and wellbeing is.

They said they really wanted to see action in the following areas:

• improved support in schools
• more access to breaks
• better access to counselling support
• and more financial support.

What can I do?

Spread the word for young carers and support the Young Carers Action Day campaign! Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels.

If you are a professional, there are two things that Young Carers have said they want adults to do to help them: Take time to listen to them, to their challenges, their ambitions and choices, and make the time to put the right support in place.

Get involved and spread the word

You can help to raise awareness of this campaign by getting involved on social media. Share one or more of the graphics below with the hashtag #YoungCarersActionDay.

• Young Carers Action Day Campaign Image
• Young Carers Action Day Pledge Image
• Open letter to the Prime Minister Image

We want to ensure that our local community recognises and supports young carers, so they know that they are not left to care alone.

If you are a young carer or young adult carer, or know someone who is and would like to know more about the support we provide, you can find out more by emailing info@cftc.org.uk, or phoning us on 01323 738390. You can also visit our Young Carers webpage, here.

Featured/header image of this article by Piron Guillaume on Unsplash