This Council Motion from Medway Liberal Democrats raising awareness of Young Carers Action Day.
This is an annual event that usually occurs in mid-March. In 2025 it will take place on Thursday 13 March.
The Council Motion addresses some of challenges young carers face, particularly in their education and sets out some practical steps Councils can take to work with local schools and colleges to improve understanding and training.
The motion uses official government data that provides the number of young carers in education in each local authority area from the 23/24 academic year. You can find the data for your council on the table below. It is likely the number is an under-estimate and the motion makes that clear.
- Data on young carers in education by local authority (England 23/24)
- Data on young carers undertaken a a needs assessment by local authority (Wales 22/23)
- For Scotland council level data is not available but this Scottish Government release from 2022 puts the number of young carers in Scotland at over 30,000.
Even if you are not able to move this motion at Council the actions can still be pursued through scrutiny or cabinet to mark the day and support young carers in your locality.
This Council Motion from Medway can be copied and pasted below.
This Council notes that:
- The Carers Trust estimate that there are at least one million young carers aged 17 and under in the UK and over 600,000 young adult carers between the ages of 18 and 25
- In [AREA NAME], [XXX] young carers are formally identified by the Department for Education, but the true number of young carers in the area is likely to be far higher.
- Young carers miss an average of 23 school days per year and young adult carers are four times more likely to drop out of college or university.
- Caring responsibilities can affect young carers’ readiness to engage fully in school life, adding barriers to punctuality, their capacity to complete homework, and their ability to focus and participate effectively in lessons.
Therefore, this Council resolves to mark Young Carers Action Day on 13th March 2025 by:
- Signing up to the Young Carers Covenant, published by Carers Trust in March 2024.
- Working alongside all schools and colleges to deliver Young Carer Awareness Training for staff so that they can recognise and address the challenges faced by young carers.
- Encouraging schools and colleges to mark Young Carers Action Day by providing guidance, assembly plans, and awareness-raising materials