As young people start to return to study after the summer break, new research has revealed that one quarter of young adult carers (YAC’s) aged 14-25 have experienced bullying at school because of their caring role.
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Carers Trust, the largest charity for unpaid carers, who carried out the study, also found that over two thirds of young carers aged 8-16 year olds say that they have been bullied.
The report also showed that YAC’s physical and mental health was suffering with almost four in ten reporting having a mental health problem and 29% saying that their own physical health was only “just ok”.
The report –Young Adult Carers at School’ comes as Carers Trust launches its first ever national fundraising campaign ‘Britain’s Best Breakfast’ to help raise money to support all unpaid carers and give them a break from their caring role and to encourage people to wake up to the realities of caring.
There are seven million carers in the UK and three in five of us will become a carer at some point in our lives. Most all of us will know a carer.
Lona, a young adult carer aged 18, from Helensburgh was bullied at school: "The bullying started in primary school and went all the way through secondary. It was verbal not physical but it was relentless. At first, I stopped going out as much, then I stopped going out altogether. My attendance at school suffered and it affected all of my future plans. The abuse affected me mentally and I found it very difficult to cope. I felt things started to fall out of place, rather than into place for me.”
An ONS survey into lifestyle habits showed that 16-24 year olds spend on average 3 hours and 34 minutes a day using a computer, or 17.5 hours per week, almost as much time as a YAC would spend caring. Recent statistics show that over 235,000 of young adult carers aged 16-24 care for up to 19 hours per week and over 37,000 young carers care for more than 50 hours per week.
Thea Stein, Chief Executive of Carers Trust commented: “We know from talking to carers that caring does affect physical and mental health. It is bad enough to hear this from adult carers but to hear this from children and young people is truly shocking.”
She continued: “Returning to study after the summer break can be daunting for many young people but imagine being a young carer or a young adult carer who not only has to get themselves ready for school, often having been woken through the night,but also has to get the person that they care for, and possibly other family members ready, for the day ahead. And then having finally reached school, to know that it’s not a safe place to be because of the bullying.
“Many young carers tell us that they are exhausted even before they get to school or college. This means that they are tired and less likely to concentrate on school work. They often struggle with finding the time to do homework too and we know that YACs between 16 and 18 years old are twice as likely to not be in education, employment or training. And of course, our report shows that many of them are bullied, making life as a young carer very very difficult.”
“We probably all know a carer like Iona. It could be your elderly neighbour caring for his wife, the dad across the road caring for her disabled daughter or the boy in your son’s class who cares for his mum who has cancer. Carers come from all walks of life. Please help us help them by getting involved with our campaign.”
The campaign will encourage people to hold a breakfast event in October 2014 for their friends and family and raise money for Carers Trust. For more information about the campaign text egg to 70660 or visit.www.britainsbestbreakfast.org
Money raised through Britain’s Best Breakfast will help Carers Trust support more unpaid carers through its network of carers centres and schemes. For more information about the campaign visit www.britainsbestbreakfast.org