Further support pledged to North Ayrshire’s young carers
North Ayrshire Council and Carers Gateway North Ayrshire have signed up to a new UK-wide commitment aimed at improving the lives of young carers and young adult carers, with NAC leading the way by being the first local authority in Scotland to sign up for this important initiative.
The Young Carers Covenant was launched the by Carers Trust and the Young Carers Alliance, setting out a series of outcomes for organisations to work towards to ensure the life chances of young carers are improved.
There are currently over 1.6 million young carers aged between 5 and 25 in the UK who are looking after family members and friends with disabilities, illnesses or addiction, with around 600 of those living in North Ayrshire.
Caring can have a serious impact on a young person’s education and long-term future, with many young carers missing out on important parts of their childhood.
This means it is vitally important that they receive the right support at the right time to enable to them to continue in a caring role while being a child or young person first.
By signing up to the Young Carers Covenant, North Ayrshire Council and its partner Carers Gateway North Ayrshire have made a commitment. They will work towards ten key outcomes to improve life chances for young carers.
This includes ensuring young carers are identified at the earliest opportunity. They will also receive timely support, thrive in education and employment, and have time for themselves. Additionally, young carers will be supported to maintain good physical health and wellbeing.
This will involve continuing to work with education services, including colleges and universities, to ensure staff and students know who young carers are, the effects of caring roles and how to identify and support them.
It will also see the Carers Gateway and North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership’s carers team working with health services. They will collaborate with children and family locality services and child protection teams to identify young carers.
Recruitment is already under way by the Carers Gateway for a dedicated health carer role. This role will support acute and primary health settings.
Further work will include expanding options for young carers to be supported through the Carers Gateway, and promotion of a Carers Charter across all North Ayrshire schools, following the inspiring lead of Auchenharvie Academy which launched the first charter in June of last year.
Councillor Nairn Angus-McDonald, North Ayrshire Council’s Carers Champion, said:
“Caring can have a huge impact on a young person’s mental and emotional health and wellbeing, as well as their ability to learn, thrive, and ensure they can access all available future life opportunities.
“No young person should see their life chances suffer because of their caring role at home, which is why North Ayrshire Council is delighted to be the first local authority in Scotland to sign up to the Young Carers Covenant.
“We look forward to continuing to work with our partners at Carers Gateway North Ayrshire to build on the work already being done to support our young carers.”
The Carers Gateway is operated by Unity, and its Chief Executive, Fraser Bedwell, said:
“This is a fantastic step forward for our young carers in North Ayrshire, and we are delighted to see North Ayrshire Council leading the way as the first Scottish local authority to sign up to the Young Carers Covenant.
“At Carers Gateway North Ayrshire, we're lucky enough to work with these amazing young people every day. We see the dedication and compassion they show their loved ones, but also the strain their caring role has on them."
"By signing this Covenant together, we're making a firm commitment to ensure young carers get the right support at the right time - whether that's help with school, taking a break, or simply having someone to talk to.”
Paul Traynor, the Carers Trust’s Head of External Affairs for Scotland, said:
“Signing the Covenant demonstrates the support for young carers and young adult carers and their commitment to doing what they can to help make the outcomes lined out in the Covenant become a reality.
“This will support young carers in North Ayrshire to have a fair future, something that Carers Trust Scotland is continually campaigning for.”
You can read more about the Young Carers Covenant.
If you’re an unpaid carer of any age and would like to find out more about the support available in your area, contact North Ayrshire Carers Gateway by calling 01294 311333 or emailing northayrshire.carers@unity-enterprise.com.