Shetland Carers want to raise awareness of Young Carers Action Day - an annual event organised by Carers Trust, which takes place on 16^th March 2021. The campaign has taken place over the last six years to raise awareness of young carers and the incredible contributions they make to their families and local communities. Carers Trust want to increase support for young people with caring responsibilities and the theme of this year’s event is Protect Young Carers’ Futures.

The Scottish Government recognise there are 29,000 young carers coping with the daily pressures of caring for a family member who cannot look after themselves. With 3,804 young carers recorded on the 2019 pupil census in Scotland, and 6,000 young people currently supported through young carers services across local authorities, many young carers have not been identified so cannot receive extra support.

Every young carers situation is different, but the help a young carers gives could include things such as: shopping, cooking, nursing care (such as giving medication or helping someone get in and out of bed), helping someone get washed and dressed. They might be making sure a parent with a long-term illness has the right medication and arranging regular hospital visits or they could be helping a parent to look after a brother or sister with an additional support need.

Carers Trust have produced a range of resources on their website for young carers to use including a Young Carer Skills Card and Young Carer Skills Journal. They are hosting an online Question Time at 6pm for young carers on Zoom to raise awareness of issues impacting young peoples’ lives and will include a Q&A with a panel of decision makers. More information and resources can be found at https://carers.org/young-carers-action-day-2021/young-carers-action-day-2021

Carers Trust highlight the incredible skills young people develop through being a carer – like resilience, time-management and empathy. These are all important skills, not just for young people moving into higher education but also for those looking to enter the workplace. What’s more, they are skills highly valued by employers.

The Carers Trust team will be calling on decision-makers to develop new national action plans for children and young people with caring responsibilities – which must address education, employability and health and wellbeing. This is their key message : young and young adult carers have amazing skills, but governments need to do more if those skills are to really count – and that’s why we need action plans for young and young adult carers.

Carers Trust wants to collaborate with employers to look at how, together, they can remove barriers that are blocking the path of young carers into work. They are also positive that growing flexibility in the workplace will help young carers fit work around their caring responsibilities.