The Young Carers Challenge is a joint initiative that has been developed by Carers Trust, The Young Carers Alliance and The Children’s Society.

It launched on Wednesday 13 September at a roundtable event in Westminster organised by Carers Trust and the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza.

What is the Young Carers Challenge?

• 2023 is a landmark year for young carers in schools – with young carers being added to the school census in England for the first time. This change is something which Carers Trust, The Children’s Society and other charities have long called for in order to improve the identification and support for young carers in schools.

• But the first year results showed just how much still needs to be done to make sure that every young carer has the support they need to thrive in education and have the same opportunities as other young people.
• The data showed that 79% of schools reported that they had no young carers in their schools – we know this is simply not the case.
• Young carers regularly tell us that one of their top priorities is better recognition and support for young carers in school, and that support available shouldn’t depend on where young carers live or what school they attend. We could not agree more – we believe in a society where every young carer feels recognised and supported in school.

This is why Carers Trust, The Children’s Society and other members of the Young Carers Alliance are marking the start of the new school year by launching a Young Carers Challenge for schools to improve recognition and support for young carers in schools.

Take on the Young Carers Challenge.

The Young Carers Challenge is a really important step forward that will enable schools across England to continue to improve the ways in which they recognise young carers and give them the support they need to balance their school work with their caring responsibilities at home. It has been developed by leading charities, Carers Trust and The Childrens Society. 

Taking the Young Carers Challenge is easy and requires schools to take five simple steps to improve recognition of, and support for, young carers in schools. It will also help them prepare for the January school census return where they will once again be asked to report on the number of young carers in their school. More importantly, it will help schools to ensure that young carers’ attendance and attainment is not being negatively impacted by caring responsibilities.

Please click here to find out more about the Young Carers Challenge, to sign up for the Challenge and to receive regular updates, dates for webinars and other essential information.

In addition, Carers Trust have updated a wide range of resources on young carers which are freely available to schools via the Young Carers in Schools website.