If you're under 18 and look after someone, you can get support as a young carer.

Report a concern about a young person

Check if you're a young carer

You're a young carer if you’re under 18 and regularly look after someone who is mentally or physically unwell, disabled or struggling with addiction. 

You might be caring for a parent, grandparent, brother or sister and doing things like:

  • helping them get dressed or washed 
  • helping around the house
  • giving emotional support
  • managing the family budget 
  • collecting prescriptions
  • helping give someone their medicine 
  • helping someone communicate

Types of support

If you’re finding things hard or your caring responsibilities are affecting your mental wellbeing or getting in the way of your education, there are ways we can support you. 

We will do an assessment to find out what help you need. We call this a young carer's assessment. 

We can suggest things that will make life easier for you, so you can carry on helping your family, if you want to.

When we complete the assessment with you, we might recommend things like:

  • practical help in the home
  • access to a young carers group 
  • holidays or the opportunity to take a break from caring 
  • help with food shopping or meal deliveries

Other services may be recommended, depending on what you need.

How the assessment works

What we’ll ask you during the assessment

We do an assessment to understand your situation and what you might need help with.

A social worker will make an appointment to visit you at home. They'll talk to you, your parents or guardians, other family and the person being cared for.

You’ll be asked questions about your: 

  • physical and mental health
  • emotional development
  • social development 
  • behavioural development
  • family and social relationships
  • education and how things are going at school or college 
  • religious or cultural needs

We may talk to other people such as your family doctor or your teacher.

If we need more information, we may arrange a more detailed assessment, called a core assessment.

The assessment will be completed against the national eligibility criteria.

After the assessment

We'll decide straight away if you should get support and what type of support you need.

If we think you should have some extra help, we'll put a support plan in place. 

If we already have care or support plans for other members of your family, this might be combined with theirs to make one document, or it might be kept separate. 

We may also provide information about other support services that could be helpful such as young carer groups.

We'll review your support regularly to make sure it is working well.

Challenging a decision

If you’re not happy with our decision, we'll provide you with information about our appeals process.

Get support from Sutton Carers Centre

You can get information and advice about caring by contacting Sutton Carers centre.

Phone

020 8296 5611

Email

enquiries@suttoncarerscentre.org

Website

www.suttoncarerscentre.org/youngcarers-8-to-13

Contact us

You’ll need to contact our Children's First Contact Service (CFCS) to arrange a young carers assessment. 

You can ask someone you know to contact us for you. This could be a friend or relative, a teacher, or your family doctor. Don't be afraid to ask, it is important to get the help you need.

Phone

020 8770 6001

Complete the online referral form

CFCS referral form (Google form)