National carers strategy: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

8. How will the impact of the policy/measure be monitored?

The existing Carers Rights and Support Steering Group will measure the impact of the actions set out and oversee the ongoing implementation of the Strategy. They meet every 3 months.

We have decided to involve further stakeholder groups including the Young Carers Working Group in order to maximise the diversity of unpaid carers who can feed back their variety of experiences. Through this group, young carers will be directly involved in measuring and monitoring the impact of the Strategy. This will also give them a platform to share their own experiences and advise on next steps.

During discussions with stakeholders, we agreed the approach to monitor the impact of the Strategy so that all relevant parties could be involved in a way that suited them. Monitoring activity will be focused on measuring outcomes for young carers, collecting the most relevant information, e.g. surveys which consider the support young carers have experienced, where data is collected anonymously and disaggregated according to age group etc. Data from the annual Carer Census will also be used where relevant.

We will also report on the progress towards our targets to maximise transparency and provide the opportunity to reassess the action plan to include new actions on an ad-hoc basis. This will ensure the Strategy remains relevant and can adapt to new developments in society. We will continue to work collaboratively with stakeholders to develop our monitoring approach.

These stakeholder groups will include public bodies and create awareness of their duties to safeguard, support and promote the wellbeing of children through discussions and sharing of best practise.