Around 30,000 people in Scotland under the age of 18 years old have caring responsibilities for a loved one, but there are likely many more ‘hidden’ young carers that are under the radar of local support services.

A group of young Carers Trust Scotland media ambassadors took to the Carers Parliament stage earlier this month to highlight the role of short breaks in young carers’ wellbeing and showcase their work over the past year.

Ruth and Rachael, two members of the ‘Tragic Amigos’ team, spoke to healthandcare.scot about their experiences as young carers in Scotland and why it’s important policymakers continue to listen to the voices of young carers.

Both young people are very positive when discussing the support they have received from their local carer centres, but Rachael – based in South Ayrshire – and Ruth – who lived in Bathgate before moving to Dundee to start university – worry that some young carers are not being identified within the current system.

Carer centres offer specialist information, support advocacy and advice for unpaid carers for all ages, with some offering youth groups and help with organising short breaks.

Ruth was referred to her local carers centre by her teachers when she was ten years old. She says that there needs to be more awareness of young carers, and support available throughout people’s time at school and beyond:

“I've had a lot of good support, but I know people that haven't and people whose services maybe aren’t the best. But sometimes it's not down to the service, it's more about how much money they have, or just the fact it's hard to identify who is a young carer.

“If people don't come forward as a young kid, and they can't really get the support they need. I think that's why there still needs to be a greater awareness and support for carers in schools, and also in higher education and the workplace.”

Rachael, who has always had someone in her life to care for, wishes she had been put in contact with her centre earlier after facing challenges with bullying and her mental health. She turned to her centre for support and says their input has been crucial:

“The support has been absolutely brilliant. I feel like if I’d know about it sooner, I probably wouldn’t have felt as alone at times. If I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

The Scottish Young Carers Festival

The media ambassador programme at Carers Trust Scotland has run for several years, supporting groups of young carers to receive training in video production to create a video to raise awareness of the issues they feel are most important.

Ruth and Rachael, along with third Tragic Amigo Teigan, presented their film on the importance of short breaks for young carers – with footage taken from this summer’s Scottish Young Carers Festival – at the Carers Parliament earlier this month.

Rachael says, despite their time with the project now coming to an end, the important topics covered in the video means they can continue to use it to speak up for young carers.

The Scottish Young Carers Festival provides young carers with the opportunity to not only get respite from their caring roles but meet and make friends with other young people in a similar situation.

It’s also the only opportunity for young carers to be consulted on policy on a national level, with the festival’s ‘consultation zone’ a place decisionmakers right at the very top level of government can speak directly with young carers about what matters to them. Social care minister Kevin Stewart and a number of MSPs and councillors attended this year’s festival.

A key ask from the media ambassadors this year is for decision makers to work with young carers from the very beginning of policy creation, rather than at the end of processes or consultations where they can feel like an afterthought.

Ruth says that the unique experiences of each of Scotland’s young carers can make consensus challenging, but it is crucial that their voices are heard throughout policy formation:

“I do get that there’s so many people that they need to consult, and especially if it’s something about young people because there’s so many different situations, but I sometimes feel like young carers get overlooked or sometimes even gets confused with care-experienced [young people].

“You can’t make decisions and do these kinds of things without consulting the people it’s actually going to affect, or it’s supposed to help. It’s not going to benefit us if you don’t consult us.”

Rachael says it is crucial that policymakers feed back to young carers on suggestions they are taking forward in order to close that communication loop, so they can see exactly where their input has been heard:

“They need to work with us more than just ask our opinions on it – they don’t follow up on it. They need to work with us from the very beginning to the very end of it to make sure everything’s covered.

“Sometimes I think that there’ll be agreement on something in the beginning but it kind of gets changed along the way. And then when something’s put in place, it’s not always very useful because it’s been changed since they spoke with us.”

 

The importance of short breaks

A right of all carers to take short respite breaks is included within the National Care Service Bill introduced to the Scottish parliament in the summer.

The media ambassadors’ film captured the views of young carers across Scotland on what a break from caring looks like to them and why it is so important. The group have emphasised that every young carer’s role is different, so a ‘one size fits all’ approach to short breaks won’t be suitable.

Rachael says short breaks from caring give her the opportunity to be a normal young person, without the responsibility that she has taken on with her caregiving role:

“I get the chance to be a teenager and go out with my friends, without having to worry about keeping things sanitised or that I’ve done something wrong or that I’ve forgotten something that’s going to hurt someone in any way. I just get the chance to be me."

For Ruth, short breaks give her the chance to reset herself and return as ‘the best carer she can be’:

“Even if it’s just a couple of hours, having that time to just be by myself or with my friends, or doing something else I really enjoy – I’m obviously still thinking about the person I care for but it’s more toward the back of my head – then I can go back refreshed.”

Carers Trust Scotland were told at this year’s festival that a key barrier to accessing short breaks is a lack of replacement care, which the charity is calling for to be included within the National Care Service Bill.

Ruth adds that it is also key that carers are made aware of what rights they have, and that Carers Centres should play a leading role in this:

“One thing highlighted at the festival was that young carers don’t really know what their rights are. Having somewhere where young carers can access what their rights are, as a young person but also as a carer, is so important because you can’t access your rights if you don’t know what they are.”

 

Cost of living

Unpaid carers are facing an incredibly challenging winter, with rising fuel bills and inflation leading to one in four carers in Scotland cutting back on food and heating.

The ALLIANCE has urged the Scottish government to make emergency payments of £400 to carers and other at-risk groups, in what the organisation considers an essential public health

intervention.

Many young carers now face difficult decisions between what are, to them, critical forms of respite and other things needed to support the people they care for.

Rachael brings up the issue of driving, which is seen by her and her family both as a way of protecting her independence but also as a huge benefit in the care of her loved ones:

“I’m coming up 17, so I’m looking into driving which would be a huge help for me and my mum as I’ll have transport for appointments and things, and it means she won’t have to rearrange work around that as I’ll be able to do it.

“But I can’t go get a part-time job like other young people can to pay for lessons, so I’m having to think about giving up my source of getting a break and relaxing – horse riding. I want to keep my hobby but I also want to learn to drive.

“I think there needs to be a lot more support for young carers to be able to continue their hobbies and anything else that would be a vital help to their care role.”

Ruth adds that discussions around money troubles can be particularly worrying for young carers, who are sometimes powerless to make an impact:

“You can’t stop spending money on essential things like heating, which is putting even more stress on adults who care but also younger people who hear these conversations but there isn’t much that we can do.”

 

Read more: New carers continue to face financial crisis; Unpaid carers “spiralling” in cost-of-living crisis; Carers Week: record caring under pressure

 

 

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox and you can follow healthandcare.scot on Google News.