Young carers are young people under 18 who help to look after someone in their family or a friend who is ill, disabled, or misuses drugs or alcohol.
There are an estimated 700,000 young carers in the UK. The average age of a carer is just 12 years old, 8% of secondary pupils are carers, and a third of young carers are giving 11 to 20 hours of care each week. Young carers are performing all sorts of tasks around the home, and particularly, offering their parents emotional support. But who is caring for these young people?
As a young carer you can find helping someone very rewarding, but you also have the right to be looked after. To find out what young carers do, how to spot if it’s getting too much and what to do about it, click HERE.
