Agenda item

7.1

The Director, Children and Families Services, submitted a report containing details of the services that were available to support Young Carers in the City, which were supported through the Young Carers Strategy Board, Sheffield Young Carers Project and the VOYCE Partnership Agreement.  The report indicated that there were at least 2,000 school age Young Carers in Sheffield, defined as children or young people who provided a substantial amount of care for someone at home, usually a relative or friend, who had a physical or mental illness, disability or substance misuse problem.  Young Carers took on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.  The issues were compounded by a lack of services available for families, or them not knowing about services or other support available, and there was often a reluctance to involve agencies as families were fearful of acknowledging a child’s caring role.  The Young Carers would be required to undertake a number of practical tasks, including shopping, cooking, preparing medication and personal care, and the role would often have an adverse impact on their education and personal lives.

7.2

In addition to the report, the Committee viewed a video made by CHILYPEP (Children and Young People’s Empowerment Project). The video focussed specifically on the rights of Young Carers, and featured a number of Young Carers talking about their experiences and referring to the problems and obstacles they faced whilst undertaking their role.  The Committee also received a presentation from the Sheffield Young Carers Project (SYCP) featuring two Young Carers talking about the difficulties they faced in their role, and referring to their contrasting experiences in terms of how they had been supported by their respective educational establishments.  They also referred to the assistance provided by the SYCP. 

7.3

The Committee also received a presentation from Sara Gowen, Managing Director, Sheffield Young Carers Project, and Lesley Pollard, CHILYPEP, entitled ‘What Services are Available for Young Carers within the City of Sheffield?’.  Reference was made to the Sheffield Carers and Young Carers Strategy, the City Council’s Commitment to Carers, the support provided to Young Carers, which included details of the Sheffield Young Carers Project and the VOYCE Project, and the key priorities for Young Carers.  They also reported on the impact of the Young Carers’ role on their education and personal lives, the benefits of investment in the Sheffield Young Carers Project and the benefits of investment in interventions for Young Carers in general, and the challenges being faced in terms of developing support for, and attracting investment in order to meet the ongoing needs of, Young Carers.  They highlighted the success of the model of partnership working developed through the VOYCE Project, where voluntary, community and faith lead organisations worked together with the City Council and other statutory bodies to develop the project model and attract external funding into the City to deliver it. They concluded by referring to a series of recommendations, which were also set out in the report of the Director, Children and Families Service, now submitted.

7.4

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

·                All the funding received for the SYCP Family Project from the Big Lottery Youth in Focus Programme was targeted towards those Young Carers supporting family or friends with mental health or substance misuse issues. This was due to the requirements of this specific funding stream.  Ideally, the plan was to ensure that support was provided for Young Carers supporting those family members and friends having a wide range of health problems. 

·                Out of the 189 young people interviewed, following the Young Carer awareness raising assemblies which had been delivered to primary and secondary schools through the VOYCE Project, 91 were not classified as Young Carers by definition and were found only to be responsible for visiting friends or relatives or undertaking chores within the household, and did not have full responsibility for the care of someone. The remaining 98 were defined as Young Carers.

·                It was recognised that the actions of Young Carers, in their role, would have an adverse effect on school attendance, and consequently affect schools’ attendance statistics.  It was also recognised that there was a need for flexibility in certain cases, and there was an emphasis on the young person discussing this with their school, and receiving support to improve their attendance and attainment. 

·                A Young Carers Centre was considered to be a potential solution to overcoming the challenges outlined in the presentation. The SYCP has begun work around a Young Carers Centre, and development and design would involve Young Carers.

·                In the light of the change in the model of delivery to develop a Young Carers Centre by the SYCP to a time-limited service, following the increase in referrals and a growing waiting list over the last few years, the SYCP was looking at how to support those Young Carers no longer receiving full-time support. There was a need to give consideration to the balance in terms of those Young Carers no longer receiving full-time support from the Project and those young people enrolling on the Project for the first time. SYCP Project Workers assisted where possible, in bringing Young Carers into other services where appropriate, such as counselling and universal services. However, many services were being cut back and waiting lists were growing. 

·                The SYCP and VOYCE Project worked closely with Sheffield College and other further education establishments in terms of monitoring and providing continued support for Young Carers moving from school to such establishments.

·                It was appreciated that a number of Young Carers did not wish to identify themselves for a number of reasons, such as the worry and threat of being taken into care, or being bullied. 

·                Discussions had commenced in the Education Sub-Group of the Young Carers Strategy Board with regard to looking at whether Young Carers could qualify, under the present criteria, for receiving the Pupil Premium.

·                Some, but not all of the City’s academies were engaged with the Sheffield Young Carers Project and the VOYCE Project in connection with Young Carers at their establishments.

7.5

The following comments were also made:-

·                In the light of the Young Carers’ accounts, as part of the presentations, it was important that all schools and other educational establishments were supportive of Young Carers.

·                It is in the interest of health services to support Young Carers as this can impact on early intervention/service delivery. 

·                There was a need for the identification of a method which schools and other educational establishments could use to record the number of Young Carers as not all schools now used the Schools Information Management System (SIMS).

7.6

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes:-

(i)            the contents of the report now submitted, the presentations now made and the responses provided to the questions raised;

(ii)          that, following on from the development of the Person Centred Assessment, the Children, Young People and Families Service and Adults Service will sign up to the Local Memorandum of Understanding between statutory Directors for Children’s Services and Adult Social Services; and

(iii)         the intent in terms of exploring the potential for a Young Carers Centre, and requests a report on progress from the Director, Children and Families, within six months;

(b)       notes and supports future developments that are required in relation to:-

(i)            Health Services representation on the Young Carers Strategic Board;

(ii)          ensuring schools engagement with the schools network and the adoption of good practice in identifying, recording and supporting Young Carers in all schools, the implementation of the model of support developed by VOYCE for Young Carers in transition and, potentially, the National Schools Standards following the one year pilot;

(iii)         commissioners of Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Services for Children and Young People making support for Young Carers explicit in service specifications;

(iv)         organisations considering how learning from the VOYCE Project and the work of Sheffield Young Carers Project can be shared, replicated and implemented;

(v)          statutory and voluntary organisations supporting the development of transition services between Young Carers’ services and carers services;

(vi)         statutory and local voluntary services working with young carers implementing the new legislation relevant to Young Carers;

(vii)        the City Council taking into account the services provided over and above those contracted by the Council, when commissioning its service; to acknowledge that the services funded by the City Council are only a small percentage of support currently available, but that it provides a solid core from which further funding can be raised; and

(viii)      highlighting the work of the VOYCE Project and the Sheffield Young Carers Project to the Governing Bodies of Schools and Trust Boards of Academies, and alerting them to the importance of effectively identifying Young Carers and the potential positive impact this can have in terms of their academic achievement;

(c)        acknowledges the excellent work of the Young Carers in the City, particularly in the light of all the difficulties and obstacles they face in terms of their education and personal lives; and

(d)       requests a letter highlighting the work of Young Carers in the City, accompanied by the three presentations from the Young Carers now made, be forwarded to the Minister of State for Schools, the Rt Hon David Laws MP, and the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Tristran Hunt MP