Young adult carers suffer a disrupted education
Carers Trust says young adult carers in university need more support to reach their potential.
Exams can be tough, but for young people juggling their studies with their caring role, life can be even tougher.
Research from Carers Trust shows half of young adult carers’ time at university is disrupted because of caring. Their caring could cause them to be unavoidably late, need to leave early, miss lectures and tutorials, or be unable to complete reading, coursework or revision.
Too often this has a detrimental effect on their performance. 56% of the young adult carers we surveyed told us they found university difficult because of their caring role. Almost half reported a mental health issue.
Carers Trust believes all young adult carers should have the opportunity to reach their potential. Our Going Higher campaign asks universities to identify young adult carers in their institutions, provide them with an offer of support and use their university Access Agreements to report on the progress they have made.
There are some excellent examples of universities who are working hard to improve young adult carers’ experiences at university; we need to work together to make this the national picture.
Carers Trust has produced
a free Toolkit to help universities support young adult carers.
During Carers Week 2015, the six charities driving the week are calling on universities to take note of young adult carers who are providing practical and emotional support to their sick or disabled family members and demonstrate how they are building carer-friendly communities by ensuring they receive the support they need.
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To find out more about Carers Trust’s campaign visit
www.carers.org/goinghigher
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