A report from the charity Family Action has called for a greater understanding of the home circumstances that often affect a young carer’s school performance.
There are 175,000 young carers in the UK with 13,000 of these caring for more than 50 hours a week. A young carer is a young person aged between five and 24 who cares for a parent or sibling with a physical or mental health difficulty or a parent with substance misuse.
Fifty five per cent of the young carers interviewed for the report said they were caring between 10 and 15 hours a week, with 35 per cent caring for more than 20 hours. The majority were in secondary school and 74 per cent were on free school meals. The report, Be Bothered! Making school count for young carers, says that many do not feel supported in schools.
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