The 7,000 very young children working as carers being let down in Britain today
- A report by the cross-party group of Lords and MPs has demonstrated the true scale of the impact that caring responsibilities have on young lives, including some children as young as five.
- Findings show that there are 127,176 carers under the age of 18 and 229,690 young adult carers between the ages of 16 and 25 in the UK.
- According to the latest census, almost 39,000 school pupils are young carers, which makes up 0.5% of the school population.
- The 2021 census reported that 7,389 children aged 5-7 were providing unpaid care, and of these, 1,746 were providing 50 or more hours of care a week.
- Carers Trust is calling on every school, college and university to appoint a young carers’ champion to lead on supporting those who need additional help and understanding.
- For more, please visit the Yahoo News website.
One in ten young people too sick to work full-time
- More than 1.1 million of Britain’s 16-34 years old say they have long-term health conditions that “limits” how much they can work, with two in five citing mental health as an issue.
- The Health Foundation says the work-limiting health condition is a chronic condition lasting longer than 12 months that affects the kind or amount of work an individual can do.
- The conditions include depression, anxiety, phobias, panic disorders, heart problems and other chronic or progressive illnesses.
- Dr Jennifer Dixon reported that the millions of people either not working or undertaking limited work because of ill health was “a significant problem” and “The impact of poor health on individuals and their families, whether they are in work or not, is considerable,”
- For more, please visit the Yahoo News website.
The following story may be regionalised:
Welsh hospital education worse than England, says study
- Some children staying in hospital are not receiving as much of an education as those in England, a study has found.
- Children’s Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes said there were also “unequal experiences” for children across Wales and called for clearer guidance.
- The Welsh Government said that all children, regardless of their circumstances had a right to a full education.
- In Wales, lessons are offered to children 4-16 who have been in hospital for more than 15 days. However, there is no clear requirement for how much must be offered, whereas in England it must be full-time education when in the best interest of the child.
- The Welsh government stated it was publishing new guidance for local authorities on provision for children receiving education other than at school “including children who are unable to attend school due to being a hospital inpatient”.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
School for excluded pupils in Surrey facing surge in demand, bosses say
- Schools educating young people permanently excluded from mainstream education say they are under pressure due to increasing exclusions.
- Permanent exclusions in Surrey rose 81% from 59 in 2018-19 to 107 in 2021-22.
- The head of three Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) who educate excluded and suspended pupils, said demand for its service had grown since the pandemic.
- Amy Smith, director of education at the Inclusive Education Trust, said the need for its services was “the highest that I’ve ever seen”, but that there “aren’t enough places”.
- A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said that “Our SEND and AP improvement plan sets out a national vision and delivery model for the alternative provision system, working in partnership with mainstream schools to provide early intervention and reduce the numbers of preventable exclusions.”
- The government said it was investing £2.6bn to create tens of thousands of new places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
