Young Carers Action Day
Young Carers Action Day is an annual event that takes place in mid-March. The day is organised and led by Carers Trust.
This year the theme is fair futures for young carers. The day will be focus on why caring should not be a barrier to learning, earning or being able to get on in life. Sadly for many young carers, it is.
Voluntary Norfolk has a long history of supporting unpaid carers across Norfolk including young carers. Our Young Carers Matter Norfolk team work with partners to support young carers and remove or reduce their caring responsibilities.
We’re pleased to support and promote Young Carers Action Day. It is an important day in the calendar to create action, influence and raise awareness for young carers and young adult carers. They are a group of people in the UK in desperate need of support especially given soaring caring hours, limited support in education, lack of government support and the cost-of-living crisis.
How can caring responsibilities affect young carers?
We know that being a young carer can have a big impact on the things that are important to growing up:
- It can affect a young person’s health, social life and self-confidence.
- Many young carers struggle to juggle their education and caring which can cause pressure and stress.
- In a survey, 39% said that nobody in their school was aware of their caring role.
- 26% have been bullied at school because of their caring role.
- 1 in 20 miss school because of their caring role.
Carers Trust encourage as many organisations, communities and individuals as possible to take part in the day. You too can take action by supporting and raising awareness of young carers.
Young carers face a huge array of challenges as a result of their caring role. The Carers Trust annual young carer survey repeatedly shows many young carers are disadvantaged across multiple aspects of their lives, including mental and physical health, finances, education and employment.
