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<p>The government is committed to supporting young carers so that they are properly
protected from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities and supported to
achieve their full potential. Consistent identification remains challenging, with
many being ‘hidden’ and therefore unrecognised and/or unsupported.</p><p>Changes through
the Children and Families Act 2014 simplified the legislation relating to young adult
carers’ assessments, making rights and duties clearer to both young people and practitioners.
This included promoting whole family approaches which triggers both children’s or
young people's and adults’ support services into action – assessing why a child is
caring, what needs to change and what would help the family to prevent children or
young people from taking on this responsibility in the first place.</p><p>Most of
the government’s work to support carers is led by the Department for Health and Social
Care (DHSC) delivered through the Carers Action Plan. The 'Shaping our Future: Improving
Assessment and Support for Young Carers Transition to Adulthood' report was published
in June and is available from here:</p><p><a href="https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/young-carer_transition_report.pdf"
target="_blank">https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/young-carer_transition_report.pdf</a>.</p><p>One
of the recommendations states that there is more to learn about young carers’ experiences
of loneliness and how it is related to their well-being. There should be a specific
focus on young adult carers being better connected in order to tackle the loneliness
they experience. DHSC will be sharing the findings of the report with the appropriate
government departments for them to consider the recommendations within their policies.</p><p>We
have recently published the Children in Need Review conclusion, and this sets out
our approach to helping schools and children’s social care improve the educational
outcomes of children in need, including those young carers assessed as being in need.</p><p>
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