All-Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers reforms for new Parliament
Carers Trust is pleased to announce the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers has reformed.
It held its first meeting of the new Parliament on 29th October, with UK charity Carers Trust appointed to provide the secretariat.
Chris Vince, Labour and Co-operative MP for Harlow, has been elected as the group’s new Chair. Prior to entering Parliament, he was the Young Carers Service Manager for Essex-based charity Action for Family Carers and was also a secondary school teacher for 15 years.
Liberal Democrat MP Alison Bennett, Baroness Keeley from Labour and the Conservatives’ Lord Young of Cookham were elected Vice-Chairs.
In addition to electing the officers, young and young adult carers shared their experiences at the meeting on topics such as balancing caring and education, support for their families, and the join-up between health and social care services. They also presented findings from Carers Trust’s new report into young carers and education, showing young carers miss more than a month of school on average.
The APPG provides a cross-party platform at Westminster for MPs and Peers committed to supporting more than one million young and young adult carers in the UK. Last year, the APPG held the first ever parliamentary inquiry into the effect of caring on young people’s life opportunities. It highlighted a devastating impact on their education, wellbeing and future prospects and uncovered evidence showing 15,000 children, including 3,000 aged just five to nine, spend 50 hours or more a week caring.
This parliament, the APPG will focus on three key areas:
· Improving identification, recognition of young carers within school.
· Improving support for young adult carers as they transition to adulthood, including access to higher education, training and employment.
· Improving joined-up working between health and social care services so that young carers and their families get the support they need at the earliest opportunity.
The group also wants to work closely with the APPG for Carers on issues such as a national carers strategy.
APPG Chair, Chris Vince MP said:
"It is an honour to have been appointed as the chair of such an important APPG, on a topic that I care passionately about.
“During my time with Action for Family Carers and working in schools, I saw first-hand just how much young carers have to deal with on a daily basis. This is why it is so important that young carers are identified and supported at the earliest opportunity.
“In the last Parliament, the APPG, led by my predecessor Paul Blomfield, who I would like to express my gratitude to, helped to build real momentum in Parliament around young carers. I am determined that as an APPG we continue to push for better recognition and support for young carers so that they can have the same life opportunities as their peers. That is the very least that they deserve."
Click here to visit the webpage for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers.
You can also follow the APPG on Young Carers and Young Adult Carers on Twitter.