Social Security Experience Panels: Young Carer Grant survey

About the research

This report details the key themes which emerged from a survey carried out with young carers in Scotland between 9 November and 10 December 2018. Respondents could complete this survey online, over the phone or on paper. Some respondents completed surveys when attending consultation events on the development of the Young Carer Grant regulations.

The survey included questions on:

• The respondent’s experience of caring including who they care for and the support they have as a young carer
• What the application form for the Young Carer Grant should be like
• How they would be likely to hear about the Young Carer Grant
• How the Young Carer Grant should work

About the participants

62 people responded to this survey. Of these, 61 were young carers between the ages of 12 and 25. This report includes analysis of these 61 responses. The response from a carer over the age of 25 was out of scope for this research, which was for young carers only. This response has been summarised and provided to the Young Carer Grant policy team to be considered alongside wider feedback from the consultation on the draft regulations, but due to the small number will not be published.

In this report, we have included percentages to give a sense of proportion, but it should be borne in mind that these refer to a number below 100 and should not be taken to represent the views of all young carers. This section describes the participants to give context to the findings below. Half (51 per cent) of respondents were aged 12-15 years old. A third (33 per cent) were aged 16 or 17. One in six (16 per cent) were aged 18 to 25.

Two thirds (67 per cent) of respondents said that they regularly care for one person. A third (33 per cent) said that they regularly care for more than one person – most of these care for two people, but some care for more than two people. Almost a third (31 per cent) of respondents said that they regularly care for someone who is under the age of 18 years old.

We asked respondents about the person or people that they regularly care for. Almost all (98 per cent) of respondents said that they live with the person or people they care for all or some of the time.

Two thirds (67 per cent) of respondents said that they care for a parent. More than a third (36 per cent) said that they care for a brother or sister. One in ten (10 per cent) said they care for a grandparent. Five per cent said they care for a step parent and three per cent said someone else.

55 respondents told us how many people help look after the person that they care for. More than one in five (22 per cent) of these respondents said that they are the only person who regularly looks after the person or people they care for. More than a third (36 per cent) said that one other person helps to look after the person or people they care for, and more than two in five (42 per cent) said that more than one person help. Among those who said that more than one person help, this ranged from 2 people to 5 people who help look after the person or people that they care for.