Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department offers to young carers who are in further education but have yet to reach adulthood.

The Department for Education has changed the law to improve how young carers are identified and supported. This change consolidates and simplifies legislation relating to young carers’ assessments, making rights and duties clearer to both young people and practitioners; extends the right to an assessment of needs for support to all young carers regardless of who they care for or what type of care they provide; and makes it clear to local authorities that they must carry out an assessment of a young carer’s needs for support on request or on the appearance of need. These new duties come into effect in April 2015. The changes we have introduced apply to all children, including those aged sixteen to eighteen in further education.

The Department recognises that we do not have reliable information about the numbers of young carers in England. This is why we have initiated a research project which, for the first time, will provide reliable information about the numbers and needs of young carers and their families.