Young carers short of support in Wales

Young carers in Wales are not receiving support services because of
a shortage of resources in some councils, voluntary sector leaders
claim.

Children in Wales, the umbrella organisation for children’s
charities, has warned that there is a postcode lottery for support
services for young carers in the country and many are being put on
waiting lists.

Every local authority has set up a young carers’ project – many of
which are run by voluntary groups – to help with school studies,
organise events and provide respite care. But Lynne Hill, policy
director at Children in Wales, said many of these projects were
underfunded.

“Some projects are better funded than others and this affects the
number of places they can provide – some children are not able to
access a place at the time their needs are identified.

“Even well-funded projects find it challenging to keep young carers
high up councils’ priority list.”

She said more continuity of funding was also needed to help
projects plan for the long term.

Many projects are partly funded by the Welsh assembly’s carers
special grant, which is to be subsumed into councils’ overall
children’s budgets from April 2006. Hill said they did not know if
they would continue to get the same amount of money.