Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a report of the Acting Director, Children and Families, containing details on the support and services for young carers, with specific reference to the requirements of the Children and Families Act 2014.  The report set out details of the requirements under the Act, the progress made against such requirements and what the requirements meant for the people of Sheffield.

7.2

The report was supported by a presentation from Nicola Shearstone, Acting Head of Service, Children and Families, and Chair of the Sheffield Young Carer Strategic Board, and Sara Gowen, Managing Director, Sheffield Young Carers.  Prior to the presentation, the Committee viewed a short film made by young carers in the City.

7.3

Nicola Shearstone reported on the requirements of the legislation, which came into force in April 2015, the main requirement of which had been the extension to the right for young carers to have an assessment.  She reported on what this meant for young carers in Sheffield, the Act in terms of the Sheffield context and the implementation of young carer assessments.  Sara Gowen reported on the data on assessments, the ongoing developments with regard to data collection, future developments of the young carers’ assessments, feedback provided by young carers and some of the broader developments that impacted on young carers.  Ms Shearstone concluded by referring to the next steps and recommendations for consideration by the Committee.

7.4

Members of the Committee raised questions and the following responses were provided:-

·                Referrals regarding young carers were received from a wide range of organisations and agencies, with the majority coming from schools or Multi-Agency Support Teams (MASTs).  Whilst it was not stipulated in the Act that there was a requirement on health services to support young carers, it was hoped that, through the support of this Committee, as well as other agencies, there should be some form of mechanism to ensure that all organisations and agencies could be held to account in terms of supporting young carers.  There was a wide range of responses in terms of the level of support received by young carers in schools, and although there had been a considerable level of work with schools in terms of providing support for young carers, it was apparent that there were still a large number of organisations which were not aware of where young carers could be sent to receive relevant support.  Work had commenced with Council partners with regard to identifying the most appropriate services available in terms of the provision of support.

·                Whilst officers were comfortable with the level of policies and procedures in place to provide relevant levels of support for young carers, it was hoped, and acknowledged, that all young carers did not require a high level of support.  It was acknowledged that there was a need to identify the young carers, at the earliest possible opportunity, and then identify the level of support they required.

·                In terms of trying to identify young carers, and to make it easier for young carers to identify themselves, a considerable amount of work had been undertaken in schools, which had included all schools having at least one assembly during each school year, on the subject.  Following this, all pupils would then complete a questionnaire, which would provide an opportunity for young carers to identify themselves in confidence, if they felt it necessary.  It was hoped that the National Health Service would adopt a similar practice.  It had also been identified that there was a need for people to be trained to be able to identify young carers, specifically in terms of noticing certain signs and asking relevant questions.  There needed to be continuous assessment on the basis that young carers’ needs could change at any time.

·                There was a range of support measures that schools could offer to young carers, including showing leniency in terms of the times they arrived at school, making concessions in terms of homework and allowing reasonable access, when appropriate, to their mobile phones. 

·                The Local Authority has a responsibility for the assessment of young carers under the Act, although officers were aware that a number of assessments were carried out by other organisations or agencies.  There was no accurate record in terms of the number of young carers and assessments, and it was hoped that, by better information-sharing between relevant organisations and agencies, this could become a lot clearer.  One of the main challenges was how the Local Authority could influence/request other organisations and agencies to undertake assessments.  It was hoped that a move towards locality-working would enable the Local Authority to gain better knowledge of the position.

·                It was appreciated that 36 assessments undertaken in 12 months appeared a relatively low figure, but it was believed that many more assessments had been undertaken, albeit not recorded, or notified to the Local Authority.  It had been identified that there was a need to ensure that both Council officers and officers from other organisations and agencies logged details of all assessments made.  Work has commenced on rolling out early help meetings, with around 60% of schools being involved.  Handsworth Grange Secondary School send out an information pack to all new starters, which included information on this issue.  Also, Sheffield Young Carers ran a school network, with 54 schools involved.

·                The level of co-operation from schools, in connection with identifying and offering help and advice to young carers, varied considerably.  Whilst, ideally, the Local Authority would welcome a high level of co-operation from all schools in the City, it was appreciated that this was not always possible due to other pressures placed on schools.

·                Referrals in terms of assessments were received from across the City. However, there tended to be more referrals from deprived areas, where people’s health wasn’t as good.

·                The Local Authority did not have any specific powers to request schools to co-operate in terms of referrals, or provide assistance for young carers already identified.  It was suggested that contacting school Governing Bodies or Multi-Agency Support Teams may help to make schools more aware.  There was also no legal requirement on the part of the Health Service to make referrals or undertake assessments, although progress had been made in terms of raising the awareness of the issue with colleagues in the Service.  It was believed that at the present time, a higher number of children were receiving support, than the number of assessments made.  One other initiative that had been identified was making a request for all schools to identify a Young Carers’ Champion.

7.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the contents of the report now submitted, the information reported as part of the presentation, and the responses to the questions raised;

(b)       further notes:-

(i)          that the current revision of the Young Carer Multi-Agency Action Plan will ensure further development of the needs around the young carer assessment; and

(ii)        notes and supports further developments that are required in relation to:-

(A)       improving transition arrangements for young carers into adulthood;

(B)       statutory and voluntary services working with young carers to continue to implement the legislative requirements;

(C)       statutory and voluntary services continuing to identify ways in which to increase the number of young carer assessments being completed;

(D)       identifying ways in which to improve the processes that will allow for a whole family approach to caring; and

(E)       the Local Authority continuing to work to strengthen the local data available in relation to young carers and their needs, which in turn, will support commissioning arrangements;

(c)        requests the Chair to contact Councillor Jackie Drayton (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families) and the Executive Director, Children, Young People and Families, to ask that they write to all schools in the City to encourage them to nominate a Young Carers’ Champion; and

(d)       thanks Nicola Shearstone and Sara Gowen for attending the meeting, and responding to the questions raised.