Cross-party group of MPs call on all MPs to work together to protect young carers’ futures

This Young Carers Action Day, a cross-party group of MPs are calling on all MPs to work together to protect young carers’ futures, the theme of this Young Carers Action Day.

Paul Blomfield MP and Ed Davey MP – who are working together to establish an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Young Carers and Young Adult Carers - have co-sponsored an Early Day Motion (EDM) 

The EDM calls on MPs to:

·       recognise the invaluable contribution young carers make to their families and local communities across the UK;

·       highlight the importance of employers and higher education recognising the incredible skills young people develop through being a carer;

·       further highlight the challenges young carers face and that the COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated many of these challenges;

·       urge the Government to ensure that young carers get the support and services they need.

The group are calling on all MPs to sign the EDM and work with them in this parliament to protect young carers’ futures.

Paul Blomfield MP (Sheffield Central) said:

“Young carers face extraordinary challenges juggling caring responsibilities, education and the other demands in their lives, and the pandemic has only made this more difficult. Working with them through Sheffield Young Carers has been inspirational, and helped me understand the support they need. We can do more to address the issues they face, so I’m pleased that we’re going to establish this new All-Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers to work with the Government in ensuring that they get the help they need,”

Ed Davey MP (Kingston and Surbiton) said:

“Looking after someone you love can be rewarding and full of love. But it can also be relentless and exhausting, especially for young carers.

“Having been a young carer myself – as a teenager, nursing my mum during her long battle against bone cancer – I know how difficult it can be to juggle caring responsibilities with schoolwork. As a result, young carers’ exam results are, on average, a staggering nine grades lower than their peers.

“Young carers face big challenges every day and they need far more support: more help with caring at home, as well as extra support at school and when it comes to getting a good job.

“Our amazing young carers have so much to offer, with the empathy, resilience and time-management skills they develop from an early age. We must give them genuine opportunities to use those skills and realise their potential.”

Tim Loughton MP (East Worthing and Shoreham) said:

“Despite many campaigns over many years too many young carers are still doing an extraordinary job with little support and often do not feature on the radar at all. They have to juggle their responsibilities of very adult caring responsibilities for loved ones with the pressures of schoolwork, often being a breadwinner and the challenges of just growing up and trying to have their own social lives. So many young carers provide such an incredibly valuable service to avoid the state having to step in, the least the state could do in return is to make that as easy as possible.