Young carers

"I'd like some extra help with things like schoolwork while I am caring for my relative."

Accessing support for young carers

Need support as a young carer?

The FISH website is a great place to find the right support.

Visit the FISH website

If you are aged 17 or under and regularly help someone close to you who has a care need, we may be able to help you manage your caring responsibilities, and also support you with your own needs as a young person.

18 or over?

Find out what support is available as an adult carer

Are you a young carer?

Our guidance below will help you to decide if you're not sure:

Types of young carer

You may have a caring role because:

a parent has care needs and there is no one else in the household to look after them
someone else in the household, such as another parent or your brother or sister is the main carer but:
- they are often away from the home for long time periods working to support your family
- they have become unwell, are suffering mental health problems, or are using alcohol, drugs or other substances to cope - you may be looking after them too
- you regularly help them with some of the caring tasks.

What a young carer does

Most young people are asked to contribute to household chores in their family home, but as a young carer, you might have more than usual, or take on tasks that adults usually handle. Tasks you may help with include:

cooking, cleaning, shopping or other household tasks
helping someone to walk and other physical care tasks
washing, dressing, eating and other personal care tasks
support someone emotionally, such as when they have an addiction
collecting prescriptions or giving medicine
interpreting, if the person you care for has a hearing or speech impairment, or they do not use English as a first language
looking after other family members, such as brothers and sisters.

You may not feel that these are tasks that you shouldn’t be doing at your age as you’ll be used to doing them, and you’ll be happy to help the person you care for. But it is important that this work you are carrying out is recognised as it may:

affect your schoolwork
mean that you attend school less than you should
make you physically unwell
affect your mental health
prevent you from doing things that other people your age are doing.

Who this applies to

We may be able to support you if you are aged 17 or under and care for someone in your family who:

lives in the East Riding
has care needs because of one or more of the following. They:
- are older and/or frail
- have an illness
- have a physical and/or learning disability
- have mental health issues
- have problems with drugs and/or alcohol.

What support is available

There are a range of support services available to you, both in your local community and provided by, or on behalf of, the council.

Our carer's support service can provide information on:

your rights as a carer
financial and legal matters
carer assessments and services in the East Riding
local, regional and national support groups
health-related issues
other organisations and services that may be useful to you.

Our aim is to support you to choose the services that best suit your needs.

Accessing support

Step 1 - Your needs

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To make sure we understand what your needs are, we’ll complete a young carer’s assessment. You’ll be asked about:
- how caring is affecting your life
- what you need help with
- anything that you would like to be able to do in the future.
This will help us to work out:
- what support you need
- whether you can access this support in your local community (often these are free services)
- if you need access to any services run by us
- the cost of any support you require.
Step 2 - Planning your support

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We’ll help you to write up a support plan that will detail the support you need to achieve your goals, and how you will access that support. It could include:
- details of local community services or online resources than can help
- someone to support you 1 to 1, for example while you are at school
- access to organised activities and sessions with other young carers
- training to help you understand the condition of the person you care for and what you can do to help meet their specific needs.
Step 3 - Request an assessment

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If you would like help from us, please request a young carer’s assessment.