In October 2019 research was published following work undertaken by Nottingham University, and the BBC. This research provided evidence that approximately one in five children of statutory school age has some level of responsibility for the provision of care at home, for a member of their household as a result of medical conditions, mental health conditions, or addiction. In the UK, research indicates that 50% of young carers remain hidden, and at GSCE, they can be as much as nine grades below their peer group in achievement, as well as having far lower attendance rates.
This piece of research was brought to our attention by the CEO of Cheshire Young Carers, Graham Phillips, and as a result, we decided we really needed to try and help.
North Wales Young Carers Pilot project is a project, based around the educational settings of Young Carers, that will work for approximately 2 years, across Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy to provide additional support to statutory services, already provided through Children’s Services and Education, before being rolled out geographically. In these three local authorities alone, there are an estimated 7,704 children who are likely to be young carers, but currently only around 1500 children have been identified and have any form of support. We have so far committed to invest £230,000 for Year 1 of the pilot, to provide additional resources to the North Wales arm of Cheshire Young Carers, North Wales Young Carers, to help with identification, educational assessment and support of Young Carers to enable them to have a better chance of reaching their potential.
We are working hand in hand with local authorities, local government and schools, to ensure this project is strategically effective and providing the maximum benefit to Young Carers, and we will shortly be investing further funds in academic research to run alongside this project to support in the improvement of support provision to Young Carers regionally and nationally.
Graham Phillips (CEO of Cheshire Young Carers) says “Our key focus is to work with schools to identify Young Carers and then assess their educational support needs, using our well-established educational assessment tool, which accurately measures the impact a caring role is having upon a young carers’ attainment, attendance and emotional wellbeing in schools. We then create an action plan where needed, to support the Young Carer, as well as school staff. Additional, more intensive support, where needed, will then be provided by our support staff, and the creation of further support interventions, also with the option to refer to statutory services when required. Additional support might include in-school after school clubs specifically tailored for young carer needs or other respite opportunities. Our initial support includes staff briefings, assemblies and PSHE work to help schools identify and support more young carers. North Wales Young Carers aims to improve both attendance rates and educational outcomes amongst these young people and make a real difference to a young carer’s future. With the financial support from the Neumark Foundation, this partnership offers a special opportunity to blend established services with some new approaches to supporting children who are young carers. The investment by the Neumark Foundation supports the funding from local authorities meaning that the services to support children who are young carers can become more effective and improve the life chances of young carers.”
To further strengthen this project, The Neumark Foundation have approved substantial funding to run academic research alongside this project. The research will be led by the world’s leading authority for Young Carer research, Professor Saul Becker.