Can a young carer get support? Could I get certain benefits if I am a young carer? You could be a young person, and taking care of another person. This could likely be to take care of their health. Then, you may be able to receive certain help. This could be help from your school, or financial aid, for example. Your Benefits will tell you everything you need to know about Young Carer Support.
If a young carer needs support
You may be a young carer in need of support. Indeed, taking care of a friend or relative at a young age is not an easy task. If you need help, always remember to reach out to the people that are closest to you in your life. This could be friends or family members. Talk to them, and see if they can help you.
As a young carer, you can ask for support from your school. In fact, you could try to talk about your teacher about your problems. This is especially the case if you caring for another person is impacting your school attendance, homework, or even your grades.
If the care that you provide is impacting your school work, telling your teacher about it is often a good idea. In fact, it will provide context as to what is happening in your personal life, which is impacting your school work or/and attendance. Then, you could work out a solution with them.
If you are a young carer and feel that you need support, do not hesitate to ask for help. Caring for someone can be a huge responsibility. At school, you may be able to temporarily forget about such a responsibility, but it could also be a source of stress.
Young carer support if you are struggling with school work
As a young carer, you may be struggling with keeping up with all your school work. If that is the case, you may not necessarily want to communicate this to your teacher. However, it could be a very good idea. In fact, this would give more context to your teacher.
However, talking to your teacher may be too difficult. In this case, you may ask for someone else to communicate. For example, you can ask a relative to write a letter to the principal.
There are a number of things that a teacher could do to help you manage your school work. For example, to support a young carer, a teacher can give more time to turn in schoolwork, when they know that the student has to take care for the person for which they are a carer.
A teacher can support a young carer by talking with the student privately, and letting them have an outlet to talk about their problem. Additionally, they can propose school clubs that help with homework. Finally, they can propose help to the parents, if they cannot easily travel when they need to come to school.
What other support could young carers get at school?
Young carers can get additional support at school. For example, you may sometimes be late because of your caring duties. Then, if your teacher knowns about your situation, they could be more lenient with you if you are late, for example.
The school may also help you in other ways. For example, they may help you contacting a young carers service. In fact, they could be able to help you more effectively. Additionally, they could allow you to more easily find a young carer worker to help you.
What if I am being bullied at school?
Caring for someone is not easy. Additionally, a young carer may require more support because their peers do not grasp the extent of what their responsibilities entail. Even worse, young carers may be bullied or harassed because of what they need to do daily.
Sometimes, young carers are bullied because of the condition of the person that they care for. In fact, young people often bully others for reasons such as this, or because young carers cannot always do all the things that young people can do because they are busy, for example.
If you are bullied at school, there are some things you can do. However, you are the best person to know what help you can do. If you are able to, let a teacher know. Additionally, you can contact the Childline. This is a free phone line. You can call it on 0800 11 11.
What benefits can a young carer get for support?
A young carer may be able to get certain benefits. In fact, this is to help support a young carer financially. For example, you could receive a Young Carer Grant. With this, you could receive an amount of money to help you pay for expenses linked with taking care of the person you care for.
You may also be related to the individual that you care for. Then, you could be considered a kinship carer. This would mean that you could be eligible for certain benefits. However, note that you need to live in Scotland. The article linked will tell you more about it.
Additionally, if you get Carer’s Allowance, there are other amounts that you could be eligible for. For example, you may get Carer’s Allowance Supplement. This could increase how much money you receive for your benefit. More specifically, you could get the following:
| Carer's Allowance Supplement payment dates and amounts for 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Payment month for Carer's Allowance Supplement | Lump sum amount | Carer's Allowance required date |
| June 2022 | £245.70 | You must have been receiving Carer's Allowance on 11 April 2022 |
| December 2022 | £245.70 | You must have been receiving Carer's Allowance on 10 October 2022 |
You may even be eligible to receive the Coronavirus Carer’s Allowance Supplement. What this is, is a benefit for those who were affected by the coronavirus.
What additional help could I get?
You may be ill or disabled, need emotional support, mental health support, or do works with children and young people. Then, you could make use of your local council or go to the young carer’s festival. You can learn more with Your-Benefits, which is a company limited by guarantee.
