Who cares for young carers?
June marks Carers Week (8th – 14th June), a national campaign to raise awareness of unpaid carers who support a relative with an illness, disability, or addiction. Despite saving the government £162 billion each year (which equates to almost the entire NHS budget), carers of all ages are often left out of national conversations.
And what about the UK’s youngest carers?
In the UK, there are an estimated one million young carers, balancing school, friendships, part time jobs, and everything else that comes with growing up as a young person. Carers of all ages are often undervalued and forgotten by wider society, but this is especially the case for young carers.
To many, it might seem absurd that there are children under 18 helping a parent to get showered and dressed, supporting a sibling to calm down after a panic attack, or giving a grandparent their medication. And yet, there are 15,000 young carers providing 50 hours of unpaid care each week. On top of school, this is equivalent to over two full time jobs. This would be extremely challenging for any of us adults, let alone a child.
As a result, it is hardly surprising that accessing and thriving in education can be a real challenge. For many young carers, before they have even arrived at the school gates, they may have had disturbed sleep, made sure younger siblings are up and dressed, and called the GP for an appointment. And for other young carers, even making it to the school gates is a reality that is incompatible with the demands of their caring role.
So, what are some of the biggest challenges around young carers in education?
Unfortunately, many young carers have challenging relationship with education. In a report published by Carers Trust, almost 3 in 10 young carers reported regularly being bullied.
“It’s really hard hearing other students use ableist slurs all the time and teachers not really doing anything about it or in a couple of instances joining in! If I try to stick up for my sister, they then start saying things about me.” – A young carer
It is important to acknowledge that every young carer’s experience is different. For some young carers, school is a break and a source of respite from home. For others, school demands a level of concentration that is impossible when worrying so much about a family member. In fact, for sibling carers whose sibling attends the same school as them, their caring role may not stop at school. Some young carers find themselves being taken out of their own lesson when their sibling is upset or distressed, in order to help calm them down.
But for some young carers, attending and thriving in a school environment is simply too much. Perhaps it is not so surprising that data from the Department for Education data shows that young carers have double the rate of suspensions and exclusions compared to their peers without caring responsibilities.
Attendance:
For the second year in a row, young carers are missing 23 days of school a year. Not only this, but 38% of young carers are persistently absent, which equates to one day of school being missed every fortnight. Young carers’ lives often include last minute emergencies and unpredictability, as well as significant anxiety; on some days, being away from the person they care for may be too much.
Educational Attainment:
For young carers, revising for exams often has to come second, or third, or fourth, in a long list of other priorities. Carers Trust found that nearly 80% of young carers described “frequently” or “sometimes” being unable to study for an exam due to their caring role. It is not just a matter of having less time, but perhaps also not having the headspace to switch off from everything else, or not having a quiet, undisturbed space at home.
The educational attainment gap between young carers and non-young carers is evident, even by the end of primary school. Less than half of young carers leave primary school with the expected standard of reading writing and maths. By the end of secondary school, young carers are 25% less likely to leave school with 5 GCSE passes including English and Maths than their peers without the same responsibilities. The repercussions of this attainment gap may be long-lasting, and it is not fair that young carers are disadvantaged for reasons beyond their control.
What needs to change?
It is clear that young carers need more support that enables them to balance education with caring. But for this to be a reality, schools need to know who their young carers are. This has proven to be a challenge. 56% of schools recorded zero young carers in the 2025-2026 school census, which, although an improvement on previous years, is still a far cry from the real picture – there are young carers in every class in every school. We know that there may be up to two young carers in every classroom, meaning that many are silently juggling significant responsibilities without anyone knowing.
Identification is the first step to change. As schools better understand their cohorts, then systems can work with, and not against, young carers. This could look like showing compassionate discretion, when a young carer might need to use their phone to check how their mum’s operation has gone that day, rather than enforcing a blanket phone ban. Most importantly, this should look like every school having a designated young carers lead, whose responsibility is to coordinate support for young carers. This could be letting other staff know when a young carer is having a difficult time, to save them from having to repeat their story multiple times, or it could be facilitating a lunchtime young carers club.
Schools should not underestimate the importance of feeling seen and heard. For young carers, knowing that there is somebody who understands without judgement can quite literally be the difference between making it into school or not. There are local carer services across the country who can help schools to support young carers. On top of this, the Young Carers in Schools programme is designed to encourage and facilitate young carers support that is both meaningful and sustainable.
Too many young carers do not have a fair future when it comes to their educational opportunities. This Carers Week and beyond, what can you do to help change this?
