Carers' charter

3: Young Carer Statement

Young carers have a right to a 'young carer statement'

The responsible authority must offer a young carer statement to anyone they identify as a young carer. They must prepare a young carer statement for anyone who accepts this offer.

They must also prepare a young carer statement for anyone who meets the definition of young carer if the young carer requests one.

What is a young carer statement?

The young carer statement will contain a variety of information about your own circumstances and caring role. It must contain information about:-

• the nature and extent of the care provided and the impact on your wellbeing and day-to-day life;
• the extent to which you are able and willing to provide care;
• whether the responsible authority thinks that it is appropriate for you, as a child or young person, to be a carer for the person you care for;
• emergency and future care planning, including any arrangements that are in place;
• what 'personal outcomes' matter to you in order continue to provide care, where that is appropriate, to have a life alongside caring, and to improve your own health and wellbeing;
• support available to you if you live in a different local authority are from the person you care for;
• whether support should be provided as a break from caring;
• support available to you locally;
• any support which the responsible authority intends to provide to you; and
• the circumstances in which your young carer statement is to be reviewed.

When you turn 18 years of age, any young carer statement you have will continue until you are provided with an adult carer support plan. If you do not wish to continue providing care, you can choose not to have an adult carer support plan.

Who is responsible?

Your local authority ^[3] will normally be responsible for offering you a young carer statement. They will agree with you when and how the young carer statement conversation is to take place.

It may not always be your local authority that prepares the young carer statement. The 'responsible authority' can also be:-

• the health board – where a young carer is a pre-school child ^[4] ;
• another local authority – where a young carer attends a local authority school away from the area they normally live; or
• the young carer's grant-aided school or independent school.

The responsible authority will normally provide a copy of the young carer statement to you and any other person you request, unless there is a reason that they decide this would not be appropriate. For example, it might not be considered appropriate (or there may not be consent) to share sensitive medical information about the person you care for.