Campaign for better support for young carers in Sheffield

A call has been made to help the nation’s young carers, particularly in Sheffield.

Sheffield Central MP, Paul Blomfield, is taking forward his campaign for better support for young carers by setting up a new to press their case in Parliament.

Announced on Young Carers Awareness Day, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers, which has been set up with the support of the Carers’ Trust, will promote awareness of the issues affecting young carers and develop a cross-party platform to campaign for greater support to be available.

Mr Blomfield is a patron of Sheffield Young Carers, who he has supported for several years.

Welcoming the announcement of the APPG for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers, Mr Blomfield said: “Young carers face extraordinary challenges, juggling caring responsibilities with education and everything else in their lives.

“Working with them through Sheffield Young Carers has been inspirational, but they need better support. After hosting a meeting of young carers groups from across the country, it was clear to me that we can do more to address the issues facing young carers everywhere and I’m pleased to help launch this new All-Party Parliamentary Group which can make that case in Parliament.”

Sara Gowen, Managing Director of Sheffield Young Carers said: “Young carers from our service have been working with Paul and other local MPs to campaign for national government to provide more support for young carers for several years now. The launch of the new APPG for Young Carers is an exciting development. Our Young Carers Action Group look forward to working with the APPG, Carers Trust and other young carers services to bring about the changes needed to identify and support young carers across the UK.”

Gareth Howells, Carers Trust’s CEO, said: “Carers Trust is delighted with the formation of the APPG. Because of the ongoing failure to find a sustainable solution to the crisis in social care funding, more and more young people are having to take on very significant responsibilities at home to care for long-term sick and disabled parents or siblings. It’s vital therefore that the voices of young carers are heard in Parliament. Formation of the new APPG will mean MPs get a better understanding of the very real challenges faced by young carers who are having to juggle all the pressures of school and young life with the sort of caring responsibilities at home that many adults would struggle with.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​