Young carers and the school census

As a result of campaigning by Carers Trust, The Children’s Society and other charities, in January 2023 young carers were added to the Spring school census for schools in England for the first time.

Schools were asked to record if a pupil was a young carer, and if so, who they were identified by (school or parent). This applied to primary and secondary schools, special schools, and alternative provision providers.

The results of the school census in relation to young carers

The first year of school census data relating to young carers was released in June 2023 on the Department for Education website.

The data showed that there was significant under-reporting of the number of young carers in schools (both when compared to the estimated number of young carers in schools, and the numbers known to local young carer services).

Nationally, 38,983 pupils were recorded as young carers, representing 0.5% of the pupil population and an average of 260 young carers per local authority. In contrast, research by the University of Nottingham and the BBC suggests that around 10% of all pupils will be providing high or very high levels of care.

Carers Trust briefing on the school census and young carers
Carers Trust has produced an insights briefing analysing the results of the school census in relation to young carers, which is available here.

Breakdown of school census and young carers recording by local authority area
Carers Trust has also produced a breakdown of all of the data relating to young carers, broken down by local authority area and school type. This is available here.

Where can you find out more?
If you are from a school and are looking to improve your ability to identify and support young carers in your school, Carers Trust and The Children's Society jointly run the Young Carers in Schools programme. There are a wide range of free resources available to support schools - visit www.youngcarersinschools.com to find out more.

If you have any questions
Please e-mail youngcarers@carers.org and one of the young carers team will be happy to answer