School census shows young carers still not being recorded by vast majority of schools

Responding to the number of young carers recorded in the school census, Andy McGowan, Carers Trust's Policy & Practice Manager, said:

“It is shocking that young carers are still not being recorded by the vast majority of schools, three years after the school census started asking about them. Because of that, hundreds of thousands of children are missing out on vital support.

"Nearly 70% of schools say they have no young carers at all, something we know simply cannot be true. It is estimated that there are two young carers in every single classroom and one million in the UK, yet the school census has recorded under 65,000 in England.  

“The Government is failing a generation of young people if it doesn’t take urgent steps to address this. All the evidence shows that caring has a huge impact on young people’s education, wellbeing and future opportunities.

"They get lower GCSE grades than their peers, miss more than a month of school on average and their exclusion and suspension rates are double that of their classmates.

"Requiring all schools to have a Young Carers Lead, tasked with coordinating identification and support for young carers, would be an important first step in helping them thrive.”