Young Carer Grant - interim evaluation: qualitative research (Annex A)

Annex B: Discussion guides

Young Carer Discussion Guide

Introduction (3 minutes)

[Ask All]

• Introduce self and Ipsos MORI
• Introduce the research: The Scottish Government has commissioned Ipsos MORI to talk to young carers, to ask about their experiences as carers and their views on the Young Carer Grant. The findings will be published as part of an evaluation of Young Carer Grant, which will help the Scottish Government make sure the grant is working as well as it can for young carers like you.
• Explain that the interview will last about 45 minutes. Remind them that they will get £30 as a 'thank you'.
• Provide reassurances of anonymity and confidentiality. Explain that no identifying information about individuals will be passed on to anyone outwith the Ipsos MORI research team, so it will not be possible for the Scottish Government or anyone else to identify individuals in any reports that Ipsos MORI produce.
• Remind participant that they don't have to answer any questions they don't want to answer, and that they are welcome to stop the interview at any time.
• Request permission to record interview. Explain that this is for transcription and analysis purposes and that recordings will not be shared outside the research team at Ipsos MORI.

Participant's background (5 minutes)

[Ask All]

Firstly, it would be great if we could get some background on your life as a carer.

Could you tell me a bit about your caring responsibilities?

Who do you care for?

How much time do you spend caring in a normal week?

How long have you been a carer?

How did you become a carer?

What's a typical day like for you?

Priompts

• What sort of things do you help [cared-for person] with?
• Prompt if necessary: Getting dressed, taking medicines, shopping, cooking, cleaning, housework, emotional support,
• Other caring responsibilities
• Studying
• Working

What do you enjoy doing outside of your caring responsibilities when you get the chance?

Life as a carer (5 minutes)

[Ask All]

I'd like to ask a few more questions about what life is like for you as a young carer.

First of all can I ask, what do you think are the positive aspects of being a young carer?

Do you think you have skills/experience other people your age don't have through being a young carer?

What are the negatives aspects?

Is there anything that your friends or other people your age do that you can't do due to your caring responsibilities?

What is the biggest thing you think you miss out on?

Does it have an effect on your health and wellbeing?

What do you find most difficult?

What help and support, if any, do you get with your caring responsibilities?

Probes:

• Family/friends
• Young carer orgs
• School/college
• Mental health support

Awareness of Young Carer Grant (4 minutes)

[Ask relevant section]

I'd now like to ask some questions about the Young Carer Grant.

For those who have received Young Carer Grant:

Can you tell me about how you first became aware of the Young Carer Grant?

What did you think about it when you first heard about it?

Probe for any positives or negatives

For those who have not applied/another carer received Young Carer Grant:

What do you know about the Young Carer Grant?

Where/when did you hear about it?

What would you say is the main purpose of the Young Carer Grant?

Do you know what makes a person eligible for the Young Carer Grant?

Do you know how much the payment is?

And how it is paid/where the money comes from?

What do they think of the grant? Probe for positives or negatives

Applying for the grant (7 minutes)

[Ask relevant section]

I now have a few questions about applying for the grant.

For those who have received Young Carer Grant:

Overall, how did you find the application process?

Did you have any concerns about applying for the grant when you first applied?

Prompts:

• Difficulty to apply/complicated
• Privacy concerns
• Worries about what other people might think/stigma

Take me through your experience of applying for the grant.

What were the hardest bits?

What were the easy bits?

Did you get any help or support from anyone to apply?

What, if anything, would make it easier to apply for the Young Carer grant?

For all:

One of the rules for applying for the grant is that only one young carer can apply for the grant for a cared-for person, even though more than one young carer may share the caring responsibilities. So, if more than one young carer cares for someone, only one of these young carers can apply for the grant.

Is this something that has affected you?

Did they receive it instead of somebody else?

Did somebody else receive it instead of them?

For those who have not yet applied for Young Carer Grant:

Did you ever consider applying for the grant?

If Yes: How far did you get? Did you start an application? When?

If Yes: Was there anything that you didn't like about the application process?

Did you get any support or advice from anyone about applying?

If Yes: From who?

If Yes: Would you have liked to have had more support? From who?

What were the main reasons that you didn't apply for the Young Carer grant?

What would have helped you to apply/finish your application?

For those where nother young carer received the grant for the cared-for person

You mentioned that another young carer received the grant for the person you look after. If it's alright, I'd like to ask you a few questions about this. Remember that it's absolutely fine if you don't want to answer any of these questions, just let me know and we can move on. You mentioned that another young carer received the grant for the person you look after. Would you mind telling me who that was?

Did this have an impact on your relationship with the other young carer?

Did you have any influence over how the money was spent?

What do you think about the rule that only one young carer can apply for Young Carer Grant

Probe for positives/negatives

Finances (10 minutes)

[Ask relevant section]

I'd now like to move on to ask some questions about money and any financial impact of the Young Carer Grant. To be clear, there are no right or wrong answers, and all your responses will be kept anonymous. Just let me know if there is a question you would rather not answer.

So, I'd like to start with some general questions about money if that's okay.

For all:

How do you feel about your current financial situation?

Does money ever worry you?

Are there things you would like to buy or do that you currently cannot afford?

Do you think that being a carer has had any financial impact on you?

Prompts: unable to get a job/additional costs

For those who have received Young Carer Grant:

Now I'd like to ask more specifically about the financial impact of the Young Carer grant.

Do you remember when you last received The Young Carer Grant? How much money was the payment?

When you received the money, did you think you were supposed to spend the money in a particular way?

What did you decide to do with the money from the grant? Just to reassure you, The Young Carer Grant is not intended to be spent in any specific way and it's completely up to you how you choose to spend it.

If necessary, probe:

• Day-to-day expenses e.g. groceries
• Clothes
• Holidays
• Savings

Why did you decide to spend it on that? [If appropriate]

What impact did that have on you? How did it make you feel?

What would have happened if you hadn't received the grant? Would you still have [done whatever they did with the money]?

If not yet spent the payment: How do they intend to spend money from the grant?

Has the Young Carer Grant allowed you to do things you normally wouldn't be able to (e.g. hobbies, socialising, getting support with your caring role?

Did the COVID-19 restrictions affect how you spent the money?

What do you think you would have done with the money in more 'normal times'?

Impact of the grant (5 minutes)

[Ask only those who have received Young Carer Grant]

The next questions are about any other impacts that Young Carer Grant might have had.

Would you say that the grant has had any impact on your physical health?

Prompts:

• Being able to buy healthier food
• Being more active

Would you say that the grant has had any impact on your mental health and general wellbeing?

Prompts:

• Reduced worries about money
• Being able to do things couldn't previously afford
• Participation in social activities
• Increased self-confidence
• Reduced isolation

Refer back to any other negative impacts of caring that they mentioned at the start and ask if Young Carer Grant has had any impact.

How would things have been different if you hadn't received the grant?

What do you think the main benefit of the grant has been for you?

Has the grant made you feel any more in control of things?

Any negative aspects?

Will you apply for the grant again in the future?

If Yes: Have you thought about what they will do with the next payment?

If No: Why not? Any barriers to doing so?

What do you think about the way it's paid?

Feelings of recognition (5 minutes)

I'd like to move on and talk about something else now.

Would you say that you feel that people are generally aware of the work that young carers do and the contribution they make?

If Not: What do you think could help change that?

Would you say that you personally feel recognised as a young carer? By that I mean recognised by society.

If they feel recognised: What/who is it that makes you feel recognised?

Prompts:

• Government
• People you care for
• Friends/family
• Wider society

If they don't feel recognised: What do you think would make you feel recognised?

Is it important to you to feel recognised as a young carer?

Do you feel that the Young Carer Grant has made any difference to how valued or recognised you feel as a carer?

In which ways?

By whom?

Do you feel that the Young Carer Grant helps to raise the profile of young carers in Scotland more widely?

What do you think could help make more young carers become aware of the grant?

Wrap Up (3 minutes)

We're nearing the end of the discussion now; I just have a few final questions to wrap up.

[Ask only those who have received Young Carer Grant]

If you were to try and sum up the impact of the Young Carer Grant on your life, what would you say?

[Ask All]

Is there anything you would like to feed back to the Scottish Government about your experience of the Young Carer Grant?

Thanks and check incentive details.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about the Young Carer Grant that we haven't already covered?

And, would you be happy to be recontacted about potential follow up research for the Scottish Government? (You would be free to say no if it's something you're not interested in)

Ask for email if we do not have it (to send a support information leaflet).

Stakeholder Discussion Guide

Introduction (3 minutes)

• Remind participant of the aims of the research:
  The Scottish Government has commissioned Ipsos MORI to gather feedback on the on the Young Carer Grant. We are speaking to 30 young carers as well as 6 people working with organisations who provide support to carers or young people such as yourself. The findings will be published as part of an evaluation of Young Carer Grant later this year.
• Remind participant that the interview will last about 45 minutes.
• Remind participant that they don't have to answer any questions they don't want to answer. Provide reassurances of anonymity and confidentiality. Explain that no identifying information about individuals will be passed on to anyone outwith the Ipsos MORI research team, so it will not be possible for the Scottish Government or anyone else to identify individuals in any reports that Ipsos MORI produce. If there are comments which are potentially identifiable (e.g. because they are about the particular group of carers that the organisation advocates for), then we will check that you are happy for them to be reported.
• Request permission to record interview. Explain that this is for transcription and analysis purposes and that recordings will not be shared outside the research team at Ipsos MORI.

Background (3 minutes)

Firstly, it would be great if we could get some background on [organisation] and your role within it.

So, could you tell me a bit about your role and what it is that [organisation] does?

Probe where relevant:

• Who do you work mainly work with?
• What kind of support do you provide to young people?
• Any specific support offered to young carers?

Views on the Young Carer Grant (10 minutes)

Now I'd like to move onto some questions about the Young Carer Grant.

Were you involved in the development of the grant at all?

What do you see as the overall aim of the Young Carers Grant?

If necessary: The aim of Grant is to help young carers improve their own quality of life by taking part in opportunities which are the norm for their non-caring peers. It is also intended to provide some recognition of their unpaid caring role.

Does your organisation provide young carers with any specific support or advice about the Young Carer Grant?

Overall, what do you think about the Grant and how it's working?

Probe on positives/negatives

What do you think are the main benefits of the Young Carer Grant for young carers?

Probe on:

• What they said earlier was the aim
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Physical health
• Financial wellbeing
• Being able to take part more actively in society
• Sense of recognition/raising the profile of young carers more widely

What evidence of these benefits have they seen among young people they/their organisation work with?

In general, do you think that the Grant meets its aim of improving young carers' quality of life and providing recognition of their unpaid caring role?

How could the impact of the Grant be increased?

Probe on:

• Wellbeing
• Participation in social and leisure activities
• Increased control and empowerment for young carers
• Recognition of young carers' role

What's your view of the amount of the grant (currently £305.10 p.a.)?

Views on applying and eligibility for Young Carer Grant (10 minutes)

As you may know, to be eligible for the Grant, carers must be 16, 17 or 18 years old. They also must be providing care for an average of 16 hours a week, and the cared-for-person has to be in receipt of certain benefits, such as the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment or the middle or highest rate of daily living allowance.

What do you think of the eligibility criteria?

Do you know any young carers who had hoped to apply but were ineligible – what was the impact?

In addition to those rules, if a young carer shares their caring responsibilities with another young carer, only one young carer can claim the young carer grant for the cared-for person.

What do you think about this rule?

Do you know any young carers who have been affected by this? What was the impact?

Are you aware of any other barriers which may cause eligible young carers not to apply for the grant?

Probe on:

• Lack of parental consent
• Lack of engagement with services

I'd now like to ask a few questions about the process of applying for the Young Carer Grant.

What do you think about the application process for the grant?

If necessary: Currently young carers have to apply for the Grant online and have to provide proof of their address, and if possible, the National Insurance Numbers of the young carer and the cared for person and details of the benefits received by the cared-for-person.

What works well?

What does not work so well?

In your experience, what (if anything) have young carers struggled with when applying for the grant?

Probe on:

• Lack of access
• Difficulty in accessing evidence (like proof of address or ID etc.)

Are there any young carers in particular who may have more issues than others?

Is there anything you think could be improved?

Once the young carer's application has been approved, the money is paid into their nominated bank account as a one-off lump sum payment. What do you think about the way it's paid?

Probe: Any experience of issues with payment of the grant?

Awareness of Young Carer Grant (3 mins)

We know that there are still young carers who are unaware of the Young Carer Grant.

What do you think could help make more young carers become aware of the grant?

Where relevant: Is there anything that could be done to help you/your organisation better support young carers to apply for the grant?

And finally, is there anything else you think could be improved about the provision of the Young Carer Grant and how would you like to see it develop in the future?

Wrap up (3 minutes)

We're nearing the end of the discussion now, but before we do, can I just ask- is there anything else you would like to feedback about the Young Carer Grant that we haven't already touched on?