Players of People’s Postcode Lottery extend their support for young adult carers in Fife

Twenty-six more young adult carers across Fife have been given the tools and support they need to secure better opportunities in education and employment. The support was delivered by Fife Young Carers, thanks to funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

An additional £5,000 of funding was awarded to extend the successful year-long Young Carers Futures pilot scheme in Fife. This funding has paid for a variety of activities and support for young people aged 16 to 25 over the last six months, including:

• An employability residential giving young carers much-needed time and space away from their caring responsibilities to relax, have fun and learn new skills and knowledge. Sessions ranged from creating a CV and job searching to resilience-building and dealing with rejection and conflict in the workplace.  

“The residential really helped to grow my confidence and give me a boost when applying for jobs.” Young carer

• Grants awarded from a hardship fund to support transitions from school into jobs, higher or further education. This was invaluable in giving young carers access to things like university essentials, IT equipment or software which they wouldn’t otherwise have.

“Getting the funding [to buy an iPad] has honestly made a huge difference for me as a young carer and a first-year law student. It’s been such a helpful tool for keeping on top of my work.

"It’s really helped me stay organised and study more efficiently, and [because it’s portable] helps a ton for the times I’m travelling home for my caring responsibilities.” Young carer 

• An advocacy workshop focused on life skills in the workplace, employment rights and how to speak up for yourself as a young adult carer, followed by fun activities.

“I found it very useful. I've been a young carer for years and still learned new stuff and the activities were so fun." Young carer

• Opportunities to meet with employers, including an employment insight day with Scottish Power.   

Young adult carers are people aged 16 to 25 who provide vital care to family or friends with a disability, illness or addiction. The added responsibilities of caring mean they are three times as likely as their peers to not be in education, employment or training. Allison Logan from Fife Young Carers says:

“This project is about showing young people that their future is not defined by their caring role and, in fact, they can use it positively. We have seen these young carers grow in confidence.

"They learnt new skills. They now have a better understanding of the world of work and, crucially, of all the incredible things they have to offer employers.

“We are so grateful to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. These young people spend so much time putting other people’s needs first.

"So it is fantastic that, with this funding, we have been able to give them the time and space to put themselves first and think about what they want from the future.”

As a result of what has been learnt through the pilot project, the employability support service is going to be a core part of what Fife Young Carers offers young people going forwards. Allison says:

“The legacy of this funding is that we now have a full-time Positive Destinations worker. They are out there supporting young people along different paths, whether that’s by making connections with employers or arranging university visits.

"We’ve been able to step up and create a dedicated role focused on fairer futures for young carers.”

More widely, Carers Trust now has clear evidence of the importance of offering an Access or Hardship Fund to remove practical financial barriers facing young carers. From now on this will be integrated into funding proposals and programme design to benefit many more young adult carers in the future.