Membership Spotlight highlights the work of our member organisations and outline how other individuals and NGOs can support them. Below we shine the light on Carers Trust Scotland highlighting annual campaign Young Carers Action Action Day (YCAD).
Paul Traynor, Head of External Affairs, Carers Trust Scotland
Carers Trust in Scotland works to transform the lives of unpaid carers. We work to improve support, services and recognition for anyone living with the challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems. We partner with our network of local carer organisations to provide funding and support, deliver innovative and evidence-based programmes and raise awareness and influence policy.
We also host the Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance, an informal network of young carers services across Scotland. It has 51 members who provide support to young carers.
Carers Trust’s vision is that unpaid carers are heard and valued, with access to support, advice and resources to enable them to live fulfilled lives.
Young Carers Action Day (YCAD), taking place on 15th March 2023!
YCAD is an annual campaign day organised by Carers Trust. It aims to raise awareness of young carers and young adult carers and the immense contribution they make to their families and local communities. YCAD provides an opportunity to further influence for improved support for these children and young people at local and national levels.
This year’s theme is ‘Make Time for Young Carers’.
When we spoke with hundreds of young carers and young adult carers, including at the Scottish Young Carers Festival in summer 2022, the one issue that kept coming up was just how important their health and wellbeing is to them.
We know it’s easy for young carers to start feeling overwhelmed because of everything they need to do for their caring role on top of all their education work. What young carers told us was that it doesn’t need to be this way. They think the things that would make them feel less overwhelmed, healthier and happier are:
- improved support in schools
- more access to breaks
- better access to counselling support
- and more financial support.
Our new “Being a young carer is not a choice; it’s just what we do” research has just launched to coincide with Young Carers Action Day. The research found the devastating impact of the cost-of-crisis and increasing intensity of caring responsibilities on children and young adults. In our research, we heard from 1,109 young carers and young adult carers across the UK, including 181 living in Scotland. Our research found that:
- 66% of young carers and young adult carers in Scotland told Carers Trust’s survey the cost-of-living crisis is always or usually hitting them and their family adversely
- 36% in Scotland say they always or usually face additional costs because they are an unpaid carer
- 54% in Scotland say the time they spend caring has increased in the past year
- 52% in Scotland always or usually feel stressed because they are an unpaid carer.
The survey also found a significant intensification of their caring role. More than half (59%) of those surveyed in Scotland report caring for between 20 and 49 hours, while also balancing their studies, work and lives outside of caring. However, as many stated in the survey, this does not reflect the extra time they spend worrying about the needs of the person they care for and the true figure may be much higher.
One young adult carer said:
“Caring never stops. Especially when it’s time to sleep, your brain constantly worries about how tomorrow will be, hospital appointments, money etc. It’s in overdrive.”
Also a higher proportion of those caring for more hours per week reported problems with money, not having time to socialise, feeling stressed and worried and not getting enough rest, sleep or time for themselves.
In terms of education, 49% of respondents in Scotland said that they never or do not often get help in school, college or university to balance caring and education work, with a third of overall respondents saying they usually or always struggle with that balance. They also report a lack of support from schools, with 32% of Scotland respondents saying there is ‘not often’ or ‘never’ someone at their school, college or university who understands about them being an unpaid carer.
For those who work, 50% ‘always’ or ‘usually’ struggle to balance caring with paid work in Scotland.
One young adult carer said: “There is a lot of pressure on me, to the detriment of my own health, wellbeing, success, happiness and future.”
Among its recommendations, Carers Trust in Scotland is calling for:
- All schools, colleges and universities to appoint a Young Carers Champion with strategic responsibility and oversight for identifying and implementing appropriate support.
- Improved access to financial support for young carers and young adult carers, including extending Carer’s Support Payment (currently Carer’s Allowance) eligibility to unpaid carers in full-time education.
- Scottish Government to increase the level of funding for young carer and young adult carer support and ring-fence it.
How can children and young people make their views heard to influence our work?
We would encourage all young carers and young adult to get in touch with their local carers centre or young carers service to get more information about the support they may be entitled to and opportunities available.
Carers Trust Scotland supports two Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament who represent young carers and young adult carers, aged 12 – 25, across Scotland. We also host a national Advisory Group of young carers, which comes together to develop national engagement events and campaigns to ensure the views of young carers and young adult carers are heard.
Our Scottish Young Carers Festival is a great opportunity for us to consult with young carers in an engaging way and hear more about the issues that matter to them. From this and our wider consultation activities, we are able to focus our efforts to improve the support available for young carers and young adult carers.
How can children and young people make their views heard to influence our work?
We would encourage all young carers and young adult to get in touch with their local carers centre or young carers service to get more information about the support they may be entitled to and opportunities available.
Carers Trust Scotland supports two Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament who represent young carers and young adult carers, aged 12 – 25, across Scotland. We also host a national Advisory Group of young carers, which comes together to develop national engagement events and campaigns to ensure the views of young carers and young adult carers are heard.
Our Scottish Young Carers Festival is a great opportunity for us to consult with young carers in an engaging way and hear more about the issues that matter to them. From this and our wider consultation activities, we are able to focus our efforts to improve the support available for young carers and young adult carers.
How can organisations get involved or support our work?
You can find out more about Young Carers Action Day 2023 via the Carers Trust website.
This includes a range of downloadable resources – that will help you engage and get the most out of this year’s Young Carers Action Day.
You can support our open letter to the First Minister of Scotland. Please send the name of the person, their job role and a copy of your logo to ptraynor@carers.org.
You can also follow and support our work on social media:
Twitter: @CarersTrustScot
Facebook: www.facebook.com/carers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ycscotland/
We would be delighted if Together members could help us get our hashtag #YoungCarersActionDay trending on social media on 15th March 2023. Here is a suggested social media post, which it would be great if you could share on the day:
We are supporting #YoungCarersActionDay! It is vital to Make Time for Young Carers and for #youngcares to get the support they need to have a fair chance to prosper in all aspects of their lives.
Find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/3HczONo @CarersTrustScot
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