Provision for young carers in secondary schools, further education colleges and pupil referral units across Wales
Thematic Report
This report evaluates the quality of provision made for young carers in secondary schools, PRUs and colleges in Wales. It identifies strategies to support providers in improving provision and outcomes for young carers. The report includes effective practice case studies that exemplify how providers successfully support young carers.
Recommendations
Secondary schools, colleges and PRUs should:
- R1 Ensure that they have sound procedures to identify which of their pupils/learners have a caring role
- R2 Have a named member of staff with lead responsibility for young carers who acts as a point of contact for young carers and champions their needs
- R3 Raise staff awareness of young carers’ needs
- R4 Engage with specialist services to review and improve their provision to meet the needs of young carers
- R5 Track and monitor the progress and outcomes for young carers as they currently do for other groups of vulnerable learners
- R6 Evaluate their provision for young carers with reference to the checklist in Appendix 1 or available toolkits.
Local authorities should:
- R7 Focus carer strategies on increasing the capacity of schools, colleges and PRUs to identify and meet the needs of young carers
The Welsh Government should:
- R8 Produce reliable, nationally-collected data to help identify young carers