Young carers and families

You are a young carer if:

You are under 18 and;
You look after someone who is disabled, ill or has an addiction

You might be:

Caring for a parent or grandparent
Helping with practical tasks
Giving emotional support to someone in your family or household

Support for young carers

Support and advice for young carers, their families and professionals is available from:

Young carers' needs assessment

All young carers have the right to have a young carers' needs assessment. The assessment is an opportunity for you to talk about the care you're providing. It will help you and your family decide whether you should continue to provide care and what support you all need.

It doesn't matter who you care for, how much, or what kind of care you provide. If caring is affecting your health, education, friendships or social life, you should ask for an assessment.

Request an assessment

You can request a young carer's needs assessment by calling us on 0344 800 8020. You can request this for yourself as a young carer, or a parent or professional working with you can request it on your behalf.

A member of our family support team will contact you to arrange a meeting with you and your family. You'll be able to talk to them on your own if you want, or with someone else there to support you.

What happens next?

During the assessment, we'll talk about how caring affects you physically and emotionally. We'll discuss how it affects your progress at school, college or work, and how it affects your social life, friendships and leisure time.

When we carry out an assessment, we have a duty to look at the needs of the whole family. This means we might plan support for more than one member of your family. This might involve different services and organisations including:

Children's services
Adult social services
Your school or college
Your doctor or nurse
Your support worker.

If someone in your family needs help and support, we'll work with you to create and agree a support plan. We will give you a written copy of the assessment and support plan to keep. This is to make sure everyone is doing what they agreed.

Only people who need a copy of your assessment and plan will have one. The plan will include a date for a review to make sure the help and support is still working for you and your family.

Young adult carers

Young adult carers are people aged 16-17 who are likely to continue caring when they reach the age of 18.

When you become an adult, the way you access and receive support and services will change. It's important to give yourself plenty of time to plan for your future and make sure you know about the support that will be available to you as an adult.

When you're approaching adulthood (aged 14 or over), you can ask for a transition assessment. This will help you look at your choices and put together a plan.

To find out more and request a transition assessment, contact the Young Carers and Families Support Service.