Young Carers

The Carers Trust define a carer as, “anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support”(Carers First). While caring for someone can be a meaningful and rewarding experience, young carers (under 18) and young adult carers (aged 18–24) often face challenges that can affect their education, employment opportunities, and ability to enjoy a full social life during their formative years.

Some of the support provided by a young carer may include: 

• Cooking, housework and shopping 
• Physical care, such as helping someone in and out of bed 
• Personal care, such as assistance with dressing, toileting etc. 
• Medical, such as changing dressings, administering medication, collecting a prescription, arranging appointments, etc. 
• Managing the family budget 
• Helping with communication 
• Looking after siblings 
• Giving emotional support
  

Every young carer in Lincolnshire deserves to be recognised, valued, and supported, to have good health and wellbeing, and achieve their full potential. Like all residents of Lincolnshire, young carers should have access to the right support at the right time, from the right person. 

The Children and Families Act (2014), the Care Act (2014) and Working together to safeguard children (2025) introduced new responsibilities to local government to identify, assess and support young carers, and reduce inappropriate and/or excessive caring by children. A key principle is the prevention of the escalation of need. However, it is recognised that many young carers and young adult carers are not being identified and, consequently, not being offered the help they need.  The Health and Care Act 2022 states that health professionals in the NHS should work with Local Authorities around discharge planning and involving Young Carers.  Since 2023 schools have been required to submit data around the numbers of Young Carers who attend their setting: Complete the school census – Guidance – GOV.UK.  Children’s social care reforms 2025 sets out that ‘multi-agency’ approaches across all partners working with children, should be seeking to improve outcomes for all children, Young Carers are named within these reforms. As a result of this Ofsted Inspecting Local Authority Services for Children (ILACS) inspections are now being updated to include how local authorities identify and support young carers – Summary of framework changes – GOV.UK:

• A Local Authority in England must assess whether a young carer within their area has needs for support and, if so, what those needs are. 
• Where the consent condition is met, a Local Authority must assess whether a young carer is likely to have needs for support after becoming 18 and, if so, what those needs are. This is known as a ‘Transition Assessment’.  
• The NHS are required to include Young Carers in discharge planning 
• Schools need to know which children attending their setting are Young Carers and must submit this data 
• All Local Authorities need to demonstrate to Ofsted how they are supporting Young Carers in their local area 

The identification of Young Carers in Lincolnshire continues to rise which compares with national trends around increases in the numbers of Young Carers.  The School Census (England, 2024/25) reports that schools recorded around 53,976 pupils as young carers in 2024, which is 0.6% of the pupil population—an average of 337 per Local Authority. However, this is significantly lower than estimates (around 1 million children thought to have caring responsibilities), showing major under-identification. The school census showed that 72% of schools reported zero young carers, suggesting that many young carers remain hidden. A June 2025 update reported 64,475 identified young carers, still far below the estimated number. 

 We know that in Lincolnshire we currently have over 3,000 young carers on our Young Carer register.   

 Older and former young carers have reported delays in, or the absence of, a conversation about their caring role and tell us they wished they had known about available support sooner. The average age of young carers at the point of identification is just below 10 years old in Lincolnshire. The earlier a young carer is identified, the more likely they are to secure a positive outcome, if provided with the right support. 

 Local data shows most of Lincolnshire’s young carers are caring for someone with a physical disability. Many are also supporting a person with mental health issues, ADHD/autism, a long-term condition or learning disabilities, this applies nationwide. If the subject of the issues faced by young carers are made visible, then carers are more likely to feel confident discussing their impact. Around 12% of teens in developed countries, including the UK, provide unpaid care for a family member. UK estimates suggest 1 million young carers, with some as young as 5 years old, providing up to 50 hours of care per week. [caringtogether.org] Report reveals huge impacts of being a young carer – Caring Together Charity 2023. 

 The Children’s Commissioner for England survey of 6,000 young people supported by a Young Carers Project (The Big Ask Voices, 2022) found that 25% of respondents were unhappy about their mental health, compared to 20% of other children spoken to.  Young carers who received support were happier about their life overall (66%) than those who did not receive any support (33%). 

 Difficulties such as substance misuse or mental health issues are often hidden for fear of judgement, meaning support often goes unsought, and the number of young people providing care is underestimated (Source: RCPCH). Staff at educational settings, members of peer groups, etc, may be the first to notice if a child is struggling.  National data suggests that the numbers of young carers who care for an adult with substance use, is around 7%  (GOV.UK), which comes from locally sourced data from JSNA figures, local surveys and charity reports.  The Lincolnshire picture currently suggests that for us this might be a little lower, however what we also know is that due to the nature of these concerns families and children may be reluctant to ask for help as they may be worried about involvement of services, children may feel shame and embarrassment and be reluctant to talk about it or want to protect their parents.  Children may also normalise their home lives and situations and may not consider that what they do means they are a Young Carer. 

While Young Carers are found in all areas of society, young carers from ethnic minority communities may experience higher rates of under-identification and reduced access to support services due to systemic and structural factors, including cultural sensitivities, communication barriers, and stigma, rather than individual choice or behaviour.  In the Caring Alone report from Barnardo’s they state that there are many unique challenges faced by children from BAME families and young carers are often hidden and underrepresented due to being seen as a family issue.  They also raise concerns around language and cultural barriers and the translation of caring role and often there is worry around stigma and a distinct lack of trust services for many communities, quite often children are relied on to be the interpreters, all of these factors can mean many young carers don’t talk about their needs.  Barnardos Caring Alone report.pdf.   

There are many factors leading to isolation or loneliness for a young carer. These include: financial pressures; difficulties finding replacement care; social attitudes to caring; disabilities; changes in relationships between the carer and the person they care for; and poor mental health due to the impact of caring (Source: Carers UK & Jo Cox Foundation).  Research reveals that 80% of carers have felt lonely or isolated, and 57% have lost touch with friends and family because of their caring role. All the following factors are frequently associated with caregiving: low resistance to stressors; weakening of the immune system; fatigue; anorexia; non-intentional weight loss, and physical inactivity. Each of these, in turn, increases the risk of social isolation whilst also being a health burden to the carer. Although there are notably more female unpaid carers, studies have found that male caregivers were four times more likely to experience social isolation than their female counterparts. Although this research is based on adult carers, we should be aware that these areas can affect the lives of young carer. State of Caring survey | Carers UK 10 facts about loneliness and caring in the UK for Loneliness Awareness Week | Carers UK.  There is limited current research available to provide a more accurate picture, however the Nuffield Foundation have commenced a 3 year longitudinal study to better understand young carers and the impact on their lives paying particular attention to long term health and wellbeing, social participation, educational attainment and long term inequalities in relation to gender, ethnicity and socio-economic inequalities.  The long-term effects of being a young carer – Nuffield Foundation

We know that in Lincolnshire we currently have over 3,000 young carers on our Young Carer register.  Over the past year we have sought to improve our early identification of Young Carers, we have updated the way in which we capture and report the identification of Young Carers and are confident that our numbers are the most accurate they have been.  Although numbers are rising, it is believed both locally and nationally that this is because of improved early identification and improved understanding of Young Carers needs, and the tools and methods in which Young Carers are identified have been developed and improved.  In Lincolnshire our identification methods are through early conversations and our Early Help offer, which is put in place across Lincolnshire partnerships. These professionals are the people who often have the relationships with children and their families, and this ultimately reduces children and families having to tell their stories again. 

Lincolnshire Young Carers works closely with partner agencies to encourage use of the Early Help Assessment (EHA) and Team Around the Family (TAF) an agreed partnership approach to early intervention for children and families. The EHA supports professionals across the partnership, who have an established professional relationship with a child/young carer, to explore the impact of their caring role and assess unmet support needs. These needs may then be met by the existing family and friend network and health or education support services. If identified as a need, the young carer and their family may require a Family Help Worker to undertake some specific support for the child/ren and their family or the young carers may benefit from a peer support Young Carers group. 

To help in the recognition that young carers are under 18, and are not usually the next of kin, a Young Carers Card has been developed by Lincolnshire County Council. The card allows professionals to recognise a young person as a carer and evade barriers relating to age or consent, reassuring professionals in sharing confidential information where appropriate.  A professional may share information about medication (the effects and safe handling of), a diagnosis (background information and the management of a condition), or a prognosis (how the condition may develop in the future). A mother of a young carer explained a situation whereby her son was initially not able to accompany her for hospital tests, causing the mother to panic. After showing the Young Carer Card, the hospital allowed the son to stay which helped the mother feel calmer and more confident and provided support and reassurance to her son that he could be there to help his Mum. 

Children, families, and young carers are all encouraged to feed back opinions and experiences in order to help providers improve services and ensure people’s needs are met. All children who are known to us as a Young Carer and who we have consent to hold information about on our Young Carers register, are encouraged to participate in an annual survey. Additional annual surveys are also sent to parents of young carers and professionals supporting young carers. Results are then analysed to support us to be proactive and responsive to identifying trends or feedback, that help us develop the Local Authority’s Young Carer offer.  Findings suggest young carers find it helpful to have someone they can trust to talk to in confidence about their situation. Young carers enjoy spending time with other young carers who they have things in common with and a shared understanding. These findings reflect national findings by the Carers Trust. Families of young carers have an opportunity to respond; Young Carers work with us as part of a Young Carers Council to shape and develop current and future Young Carers support.

Supporting Hidden Young Carers in Lincolnshire
In Lincolnshire, we face similar challenges to those experienced nationally in identifying and supporting hidden young carers. To overcome these barriers, we have implemented a range of initiatives that align with the three strategic shifts: moving care to the community, moving to digital, and shifting treatment to prevention. 

Moving Care to the Community 
We have delivered specialist workshops and Lunch and Learn sessions for practitioners across the county, enabling them to identify and support young carers within their own settings—particularly schools and community services. By embedding Young Carer Leads in education settings and mapping available support groups, we ensure young carers can access help locally, without relying solely on statutory services. This community-based approach empowers families to choose where and how they receive support. 

Moving to Digital 
Recognising the importance of accessible, flexible resources, we are developing a suite of digital videos and media content for young carers and professionals. These resources provide clear guidance on available support and advice, ensuring information is always at hand, regardless of location or time. Additionally, our promotional materials—newsletters, postcards, and online resources—are being integrated across adult, health, public, and children’s services, creating a consistent digital presence that raises awareness and facilitates self-identification. 

Shifting Treatment to Prevention 
Our focus is on early identification and proactive engagement to prevent challenges from escalating. We have worked with the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) to include young carers within the Neglect Tool, helping practitioners confidently explore caring roles and assess potential risks before harm occurs. Annual contact with families, including those who electively home educate, ensures they remain informed about support options as circumstances change. By maintaining regular communication and providing preventative resources, we aim to reduce the likelihood of crisis situations and improve long-term outcomes for young carers.

The following actions will be considered to provide support to Young Carers in the future: 

• Targeted practitioner workshops 
• Emergency Planning for Young Carers 
• Developing a suite of videos for Young Carers 
• Collaborating with schools to co-produce ‘Young Carer Packs’ and PHSE resources for schools