Young Carers Challenge

Our Challenge is that every school in England will …

Have a Young Carers Champion in school so that every young carer has a trusted adult in school they can go to if things are difficult, or they need more support.

Raise awareness of young carers with staff and pupils to help ensure young carers are identified and they know what support is available.

Have a young carers agreement / policy (ideally designed with young carers) so that every young carer knows what support is available to them in their school.

Ensure young carers are correctly identified in their school pupil information system, monitor indicators such as attendance and attainment alongside other potentially vulnerable groups of pupils and include young carers within enrolment/transitions processes.

Have linked in with their local young carer service so they know what support is available for young carers outside of school.

Why is it important that schools participate?

  • 2023 is a landmark year for young carers in schools – with young carers being added to the school census in England for the first time. This change is something which Carers Trust, The Children’s Society and other charities have long called for in order to improve the identification and support for young carers in schools.
  • But the first year results showed just how much still needs to be done to make sure that every young carer has the support they need to thrive in education and have the same opportunities as other young people.
  • The data showed that 79% of schools reported that they had no young carers in their schools – we know this is simply not the case.
  • Young carers regularly tell us that one of their top priorities is better recognition and support for young carers in school, and that support available shouldn’t depend on where young carers live or what school they attend. We could not agree more – we believe in a society where every young carer feels recognised and supported in school.
  • For this reason, and because of the ever-increasing evidence about the impact caring responsibilities can have on attendance and attainment, Carers Trust, The Children’s Society and other members of the Young Carers Alliance are marking the start of the new school year by launching a Young Carers Challenge for schools.

Sign up here …

Updates to the Young Carers in Schools Award

Carers Trust and The Children’s Society are also excited to announce that from January 2024, we will be launching a refreshed Young Carers in Schools award, designed to help schools across England to improve their ability to identify and support their young carers. Schools who complete the Young Carers Challenge will already have met a number of the standards of the refreshed award. 

In order to enable schools to focus on the actions in the Young Carers Challenge and make sure they are ready for the next round of the School Census in January, applications for the YCiS Award will be paused from September 29th. If you already have an application underway please submit by September 29th, if not please apply to the refreshed Award we will launch in January.

Webinars

To support schools to prepare for the next school census submission and adopt the Young Carers Challenge, Carers Trust and The Children’s Society will be running a series of webinars, open to any school or young carers service.

The role of a Young Carers Champion & raising awareness with staff and pupils

Thursday 5th October
1400 - 1500

Creating a young carers policy/supporting young carers

Wednesday 8th November
1000 - 1100
(Including young carer's rights and linking with your local young carers service)

Using data in relation to young carers

Date to be confirmed

Sign up here
Sign up here

Resources

The Young Carers in Schools Guide has a range of resources to support your commitment to the Young Carers Challenge. Tools include:


For questions relating to the Young Carers Challenge or school census, please contact youngcarers@carers.org. For questions relating to the Young Carers in Schools Award, please contact YCiS@childrenssociety.org.uk.