Young carers

Legislation defines a young carer as a person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for another person of any age except where that care is -

• provided for payment
• pursuant to a contract
• or as voluntary work

The Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014 gave young carers better rights to an assessment of their needs. They aim to assess and support children and young people from taking on excessive or inappropriate care.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 further reinforced the need for partnership work and a whole family approach to supporting and assessing those families with young carers.

Young Carers assessment

Assessments of young carers focus on the child or young person’s needs. They are not an assessment of how well care responsibilities are carried out.

We must offer an assessment where it appears that a child is involved in providing care. We need to consider the needs of young carers if, during the assessment of an adult with care needs (or of an adult carer) it appears that a child is providing (or intends to provide) care.

In these circumstances we must consider whether the care provided by the child is excessive or inappropriate. We also account for how the child’s caring responsibilities affects their wellbeing, education and development.