Young Carers: Educational Opportunities

Chris Vince Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered educational opportunities for young carers.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I am pleased to see so many hon. Members from across the House here today, and I thank them for attending. I know that some have personal stories to tell, and I look forward to hearing them.

As many hon. Members will be aware, yesterday was Young Carers Action Day. We have held a number of events in Parliament with the support of the Carers Trust. This week, young carers visited No. 10 and wrote directly to the Prime Minister to ask for his support in ensuring that young carers and young adult carers are the golden thread that goes through everything his Government do. Students from Mark Hall academy in Harlow visited Parliament, and the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) and I took part in an open-top bus trip around London, which went very well until we were unfortunately attacked by hail.

A recent report by the Carers Trust has identified a number of issues that young carers face in educational settings:

“Caring has a significant negative impact on education…Awareness, identification and recording of young carers in educational settings is still too low…Support for young carers in education is worryingly inconsistent.”

Here are a few statistics: almost half of young carers—48%—reported being bullied in the past year; more than two in five—44%—frequently struggle to study for tests or exams because of the demands of their caring situation; and almost a third of young carers are regularly late for school because of those demands. Almost one in four young carers say there is no support at all for young carers in their school, college or university.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

It is estimated that there are around 2,000 young carers in Staffordshire, many of whom are hesitant to come forward for fear of disrupting their home lives. For those flying under the radar, it is even harder to get proper support. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Department for Education’s commitment to creating a more comprehensive register of young people will ensure that resources can be distributed more effectively, so that problem areas can be identified?

[Chris Vince]

I thank my hon. Friend for her useful and thoughtful intervention. She is absolutely right. One of the biggest issues for young carers is identifying them. First, young carers do not recognise themselves as being young carers. Secondly, as she rightly says, some young carers are worried about coming forward, as they feel that identifying themselves as young carers would somehow make it seem as though their parents are failing them, which is absolutely not the case.

I welcome the DFE’s commitment to better identifying young carers—it is great that young carers are now part of the school census—but we have to recognise that there is much more to do. In the most recent school census, 72% of schools said that they do not have any young carers, which cannot be right. Although we have made strides in this area, there is obviously much more we need to do. I look forward to the Minister’s comments on that.

As many hon. Members will be aware, since I mention it in most of my speeches, I spent the first 15 years of my working life as a secondary school maths teacher, teaching in various schools across Essex and working with students aged 11 to 18 with a variety of abilities. I have recalled to the House many times one parents’ evening in which a student of mine arrived with both his parents, who were severely physically disabled. To my shame—this is something I have carried with me— I had no idea, until that point, that he and his older sister were young carers.

Since then, I have worked to ensure that I am more knowledgeable about young carers and young adult carers. Before my election in July, I worked for a wonderful charity in Harlow and Essex called Action for Family Carers. It provides respite care and in-school support for children and young people who care for family members and loved ones with physical and mental disabilities.

Young carers and young adult carers play a hugely important role for their families and their communities, giving to the NHS in an invaluable way. We must recognise their impact in saving money for the NHS and in helping the economy, but too often, they do not get the recognition they deserve. There is an urgent need for better identification of young carers in the education system, as many do not even realise that they are young carers until it has already impacted their lives, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) said. For them, it is just normal—caring for a family member or a loved one.

I have visited several schools in my Harlow constituency that do a great job of supporting young carers, and I pay special tribute to Mark Hall academy, which allowed me to meet and talk to its young carers club. I also pay tribute to Purford Green and Holy Cross primary schools for their great work in identifying young carers, and to the many other schools across Essex where I have previously worked.

Some, but not all, schools do great work to identify young carers and have a designated young carers lead. It is vital that all teachers have knowledge of young carers and young adult carers, so my first ask of the Minister is to make training on young carers a mandatory part of teacher training.

It is important that schools have a designated young carers lead. Having spoken to young carers in my previous job and as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for young carers and young adult carers, I know how much anxiety is caused by having to tell at least five different teachers why they are late or have not done their homework. One young carer recently told me that he feels embarrassed to tell people, and that he has to ask peers to keep the noise down in the school library because, for him, it is the only quiet place where he can get his studies done. He does not have that option at home.

[Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)]

The hon. Member makes a valid and important point about schools having a young carers lead, and I am proud to say that every school in Gloucestershire has one. My constituent Christian, who I met yesterday, has been caring for his grandmother from the age of six, but it was not until he was 11 that he was identified by his school as a young carer. Does the hon. Member therefore agree that, although it is an excellent endeavour to have more leads, more still needs to be done?

[Chris Vince]

As soon as the hon. Member mentioned Gloucestershire, I thought of the fantastic young carers from Gloucestershire I met yesterday. He is right that having a young carers lead is useful where a school has identified a student as a young carer, but we need to do more to identify young carers in the first place. I was previously a teacher, and teachers have a key role in identifying young carers.

There is also a lack of structured support in schools, particularly during the transitions from primary to secondary or from secondary to further education. One of our young carers told the APPG about his experience of applying to university, and how the university website did not provide any case studies that were relevant to him.

When we talk about transitions, we are not just talking about moving through stages of education; we are talking about how the caring role can change—often, sadly, for the worse. It is the responsibility of people in positions of authority to recognise that and to act. As a former teacher, I know only too well how easily young people can slip through the cracks. I am committed to changing that, which is why we need targeted training for educators to better identify young carers and to equip them with the tools to make their lives more manageable.

Other professionals can help, too. Action for Family Carers, for example, ran a project to reach out to GPs. It seems nonsensical that when a parent visits a doctor’s surgery with an acute medical condition, the question of their children’s caring responsibility is not even broached.

To support young carers, there should be a dedicated point of contact in education—a trusted person in authority who students can approach to discuss any caring responsibilities that might affect their studies. Whether it is about missing a deadline or arriving late to class, having one person to communicate with would ensure that the right people are informed and the student’s needs are met. This simple addition could make a world of difference, and there are some great examples of schools that do just that, but it is not universal. There should be mandatory training for teachers, so that they can all help with the task of identifying young carers.

Finally, transition periods, especially from primary to secondary school and on to college or university, are tough enough for everyone but even more so for young carers without support. As young carers highlighted to the all-party group, the leap to university feels unattainable due to the lack of provision. We know that a number of young carers do not go to university because they are concerned about leaving those they care for behind, and when they do go, they choose universities that are close to home, which potentially limits their options.

Education should provide hope and opportunity for all, regardless of background or circumstance. Resources must be in place for those facing disadvantage, ensuring that those challenges do not become insurmountable barriers. It is important that young carers have the opportunity to be children as well.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Vince]

I thought I had two hours! I thank you, Ms Furniss, and all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for a trademark passionate and powerful speech about his family, as well as the wider role of young carers. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for paying tribute to the young carers services in her constituency. I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) and for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for their contributions, and the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for his learned contribution as well.

I thank the Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett); the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for East Wiltshire (Danny Kruger); and the Minister for contributing to this important debate. I know from experience that what the Minister says is true: where there is greater poverty, there is greater need. We are seeing more and more young carers supporting a loved one with mental health issues.

We need more accurate data to understand the scale of the challenge. We also need to recognise that young carers have different caring responsibilities and often care for different people. They also often have needs themselves. I welcome the Minister’s statement about making knowledge about young carers part of teacher training.

When we speak to young carers, we cannot help but be struck by how thoughtful, articulate and caring they are. I apologise to anyone who had an ambition to become a tax lawyer or a bank manager, but when I speak to young adult carers about their futures, they often tell me that they want to be nurses, care assistants, doctors and teachers. I even met one yesterday who said that she wanted to be a politician. Sadly, however, we too often meet young carers who do not have any ambition, because all they can think about is caring for their loved one—that is something we need to take very seriously.

I will briefly mention the young carers covenant—otherwise the Carers Trust will tell me off—which identifies some of what I have asked for today. I also emphasise the importance of recognising the difference between young carers and care leavers; it is amazing how many people do not understand that distinction. Finally, I ask every hon. Member to keep talking about young carers in Parliament. Young Carers Action Day may happen only once a year, but our young carers do this work every single day.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered educational opportunities for young carers.