OUR LADY IMMACULATE CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
YOUNG CARERS POLICY
At Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School, we believe that all children and young people have the
right to an education, regardless of their home circumstances.
We acknowledge that there are likely to be young carers amongst our pupils, and that being a
young carer can have an adverse effect on a young person’s education.
We have adopted our young carer policy so that we will be able to relieve some of the worries,
which young carers may have about home and their schoolwork, and to show that we believe
young carers’ education is important.
Policy statement
At Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School, we are committed to and fully recognise our
responsibilities for supporting young carers; this policy has been developed to ensure that all adults are
working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of young carers. We will ensure timely and
effective identification of students who are taking on a caring role.
Scope
This policy is a guide to all staff – including non-teaching and governors – outlining Our Lady Immaculate
Catholic Primary School’s approach to identifying, assessing, and supporting young carers.
It should be read in conjunction with other relevant school policies.
This policy is written with regard to the Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 96, the Care Act 2014 –
Section 63, and the Care Act 2014 – Section 64. The Government recognises that schools have a vital role to
play and are ideally positioned to identify young carers and to initiate support.
To reinforce this Ofsted recognises young carers as a vulnerable and disadvantaged group. It has
strengthened its guidance in The Common Inspection Framework: Education, Skills and Early Years (Ofsted,
2015) stating that “in making judgements inspectors will pay particular attention to young carers”.
Policy Aims
• To provide staff with the framework to promote and safeguard the wellbeing of young carers.
• To ensure consistent good practice across the school by increasing understanding and awareness of,
and communication about, young carers.
• To ensure students at the school with caring responsibilities are identified and supported so they can
play a full and active role in school life, remain healthy, and achieve their academic potential.
• To enable staff to understand how and when to request a statutory young carers assessment via the
Early Help Assessment Tool.
• To encourage students who are impacted by parental ill-health, disability or substance misuse to self
identify and that the school works to a whole family approach and will signpost them and their
parents/carers for specific support through the Early Help Framework.
Key Staff Members
This policy aims to ensure all staff take responsibility to identify young carers.
The name of the member of the School’s Senior Leadership Team that Young Carer’s Champion is Mrs J
Brown.
1
Approved by the Governing Body – Autumn 2022
Date of next review: Autumn 2023
They will act as a point of contact for on-going information, advice and guidance via the commissioned
young carers’ service.
They may delegate the day to day operational management to another member of staff – Mrs D Finnigan,
Learning Mentor.
Other key members of staff have specific roles to play:
• Pastoral Staff including our Learning
Mentor
▪ Designated Safeguarding Lead
Raising awareness of young carers
Who are they?
▪ Team Leaders
▪ SENCO
▪ Mental Health First Aid Champion
▪ PSHEe Coordinator
A young carer is defined in law as a ‘person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for
another person’. This includes ‘providing practical or emotional support’ (Children and Families Act
2014).
The scale
The 2011 census identified over 166,363 young carers in England, although research conducted in 2010
by the BBC and the University of Nottingham suggests that as many as 700,000 young people could be
providing unpaid care. This is 1 in 12 children.
In Liverpool according to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment over 5,100 people in Liverpool aged
under 25 identified themselves as providing unpaid care, equating to 3.5% of that group. The level of
unpaid care provided by young people in the city is the highest among the eight core cities in England,
and significantly above both national and regional levels.
What do young carers do?
The tasks and level of caring undertaken by young carers can vary according to the nature of the illness
or disability, the level and frequency of need for care, and the structure of the family as a whole.
Young carers often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be
expected of an adult.
These can include:
• Practical tasks – cooking, housework and shopping.
• Physical care – lifting or helping someone use the stairs.
• Personal care – dressing, washing, helping with toileting needs.
• Emotional support – listening, calming, being present.
• Managing the family budget, collecting benefits and prescriptions.
• Medication management.
• Looking after younger siblings.
• Helping someone communicate.
How does caring affect a child or young person’s life?
• Physical health: Young carers are often severely affected by caring through the night, repeatedly
lifting a heavy adult, poor diet and lack of sleep.
• Emotional wellbeing: Stress, tiredness and mental ill-health are common for young carers.
• Socialisation: Young carers often feel different or isolated from their peers and have limited
opportunities for socialising. A quarter of young carers in the UK said they were bullied at school
because of their caring role. Locally this was reported as high as 60% (Schools Anti-Bullying Audit).
2
Approved by the Governing Body – Autumn 2022
Date of next review: Autumn 2023
• Stable environment: Young carers can experience traumatic life changes such as bereavement,
family break-up, losing income and housing, or seeing the effects of an illness or addiction on the
person they care for.
As a result, caring responsibilities have a significant impact on a pupil’s learning:
• 27% of young carers of secondary school age in England experience educational difficulties or miss
school (Dearden and Becker, 2004).
• If left unsupported, young carers can continue to struggle with school and have significantly lower
educational attainment at GCSE level – the difference between nine Cs and nine Ds (The Children’s
Society, 2013).
• Young carers are more likely than the national average not to be in education, employment or
training (NEET) between 16 and 19. Of these, 75% had been NEET at least once (compared with
25% of all young people) and 42% had been NEET for six months or more (compared with 10% of all
young people) (The Children’s Society, 2013).
Why young carers can be hidden
• Their parent’s condition is not obvious, so people don’t think they need any help.
• They do not realise that they are a carer or that their life is different from their peers.
• They don’t want to be any different from their peers.
• They believe that the school will show no interest in their family circumstances.
• They want to keep their identity at school separate from their caring role.
• It’s not the sort of thing they feel can be discussed with friends.
• There has been no opportunity to share their story.
• They are worried about bullying.
• They worry that the family will be split up and taken into care.
• They want to keep it a secret and/or are embarrassed.
• They see no reason or positive actions occurring as a result of telling their story.
Possible Indicators that a child/young person may be a young carer
• Low attendance – lateness to or absence from school.
• Achievement – failing to reach their potential.
• Presentation –tired/ hungry/ unkempt.
• Not taking part in extracurricular activities.
• Social skills – under or overdeveloped.
• Isolated/ being bullied.
• Homework /coursework is late or poor quality.
• Anxiety/constantly worried.
• Behavioural problems and poor concentration.
• Physical problems.
• No obvious signs – school may be a break from caring.
Early Help and Liverpool Young Carers Pathway
We will ensure that staff, students and parents/carers are aware of the right to a young carers’
assessment, as well as the support and services available to them, and how they can access these
services.
Within the school (noticeboards, common rooms, toilets etc.) and through our communication channels
(newsletters, websites), we will share and display relevant information about young carers and how
they can access support as well as who they can talk to in school.
Young Carer’s Assessment
3
Approved by the Governing Body – Autumn 2022
Date of next review: Autumn 2023
• The school will utilise the Early Help Framework and if it appears a student has identified needs
related to and associated with the negative impact of caring.
• Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers is a city-wide community-based service that ensures young
carers and young adult carers in Liverpool are identified and can receive a carer’s assessment,
support plan and review under the statutory duty of the Council.
• A request to Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers Service for a Young Carers Assessment (for
students under 18 or those transitioning to work, further / higher education or training) should then
be made by the school using the Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT).
• The service can be contacted directly for advice and discussion about the pathway and if required
guidance to complete the EHAT.
• Young carers themselves and /or family members are encouraged to contact the service to request
the assessment and seek support.
• Once assessed the young carer will have an agreed support plan taking into account the needs of
the whole family and aims to reduce the negative impact of caring on the child/young person.
Support at school
• School will adapt its admissions process to provide opportunities for young carers and their families
to self-identify and make them aware what support is available to them.
• We have a designated SLT member of staff with responsibilities for Young Carers. This person
is Mrs. J Brown who is supported by Mrs. D Finnigan (Learning Mentor).
• Staff will support the carer on a daily basis and will be made aware of who the named people are
who can support them.
• School will provide information to the young person and their family, of any external agency
support which is available to them and will liaise with appropriate agencies/charities to support
carers.
• The school will actively seek feedback from our young carers and their families to look at how we
can improve the support we put in place for young carers.
• It may be appropriate for Carers to join R Time or other therapeutic support provided within school.
Seedlings, Therapeutic Play or 1-1 or small group provision may also be accessed by them.
• School will look to consider alternative arrangements if a young carer cannot attend after-school
activities.The school will allow young carers to use a phone to call home during breaks and
lunchtimes to reduce the worry that they may have about a family member.
• Teachers will be flexible when responding to their needs, e.g. negotiable deadlines for
homework/ opportunities to do homework during the school day.
• Pupil premium funding will be used where possible to minimise any barriers to education and
learning experienced by an eligible young carer.
Local Support
We recognise some children and young people are at a greater risk of experiencing poorer mental
health and this includes young carers. In Liverpool, there is a range of organisations and groups offering
support, including the CAMHS partnership, a group of providers specialising in children and young
people’s mental health wellbeing. These partners, which include Action with Young Carers, deliver
accessible support to children, young people and their families, whilst working with professionals to
reduce the range of mental health issues through prevention, intervention, training and participation.

Home

Whole school approach
We will ensure all appropriate policies reflect the needs of young carers and have mechanisms in place
to monitor how many students are taking on a caring role and the outcomes for this group.
Supporting parents
4

Approved by the Governing Body – Autumn 2022
Date of next review: Autumn 2023
• Parents can access support and advice from Mrs Brown and our Learning Mentor, Mrs Finnigan,
through email or telephone.
• If there is a Safeguarding concern, the Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Leads can be
contacted by phoning school.
• Their child’s teacher can also be contacted through their class email or by telephone.
• School may also direct parents to external agencies who could support their child and their
family.
Training and Young Carers in School Award
As part of the city’s commitment to continual improvement for young carers and their families, we will
participate in the young carers WFD offer which includes both multi-agency and targeted sessions for
schools.
We may consider applying for the Young Carers in School award
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/youngcarer/schools/award
Policy Review
This policy will be reviewed every two years as a minimum. The next review date is 01/10/2022
In between updates, the policy will be updated when necessary to reflect local and national changes.
This is the responsibility of the Designated Young Carer’s Champion Mrs J Brown
Any personnel changes will be implemented immediately.