Young Carers

A Young Carer is someone aged up to 18 who provides unpaid for care for a family member or friend who has a long-term physical or mental health problem or disability, a life-limiting, illness or a drug or alcohol dependency Definition by Surrey Young Carers. Half of young carers report that their caring role has a negative effect on their school work. Some young carers leave school with the equivalent of 9 GCSE grades lower than their peers who have no caring role. One study reported that a half of the carers surveyed had missed school because of their caring role and a quarter had left without any GCSEs. A quarter of young carers said they were bullied at school because of their caring role. With the right support, being a young carer brings benefits, and many express pride in their role.

Here at MPS we have 4 dedicated staff members who help and support our Young Carers. Please contact us if you have any questions or queries about young carers at MPS.

Young Carers Team

The type of support that carers provide falls into 3 broad categories:

Practical: for example, cooking, cleaning, shopping and money management
Personal: for example, lifting, washing, dressing and administering medication
Emotional and supervisory: watching over someone and providing emotional support

At MPS we provide a weekly meeting space for lunch, we check in with our young carers and offer support and work closely with Surrey Young Carers for support and guidance. We aim to offer termly events such as trips or in school respite.

There are around 15,000 young carers in Surrey – that’s at least two in every classroom.
Action for Carers currently supports over 2,500 of these young people.
Over a quarter of young carers aged 11-15 regularly miss school. This can have a lasting effect on their life chances.
Young carers are missing on average 23 days of school every year – that’s more than a month in total. This can have a lasting effect on their life chances.
Almost half of young carers at secondary school are ‘persistently absent’.
Only 46% of teachers think their school provides the support young carers need, while 23% of young carers say they get no support at all.
44% of young carers always or usually feel stressed because of caring
23% of young carers in the UK said that their caring role had stopped them making friends.