Council response

Your petition requesting that Herefordshire Council allocate money to support the young carers service currently provided by Herefordshire Carers Support (HCS) has now closed. Thank you for raising this matter, it has contributed to the ongoing conversations the council have with HCS.
As you may be aware, young carers clubs provided by HCS have not been funded by the council. HCS have successfully developed this service by seeking and securing funding from other sources. We understand you and other young carers value the clubs and trips and want to keep them going. Council staff are working with HCS, and other voluntary organisations, to support them in identifying and bidding for funding to enable this to continue.
The response below seeks to address the other points raised in your petition. If you would like to meet with council officers we can arrange a convenient time and place to discuss this further with you, please contact Richard Watson at childrenscommissioning@herefordshire.gov.uk or call 01432 260123.
As you mention, the Joint Carers Strategy for Herefordshire 2017 – 2021 recognises unpaid carers as one of Herefordshire’s most valuable assets. Many people helped create the strategy including carers, volunteers and voluntary sector organisations, council and health services. You may have met some of the officers when they visited young carers clubs. The government’s Carers Action Plan 2018 to 2020 strengthens the approach in the Joint Carers Strategy, which is now being implemented to improve the wellbeing of carers in Herefordshire.
The council has been developing the services it offers young carers and recently started a new Young Carers Support Service provided by the family support team. It is important that young carers are identified and that their needs assessed so they are able to continue in their caring role while keeping well and achieving their own goals and ambitions. The assessment offered by the young carers support service considers all aspects of the young person’s life beyond their caring role, and the needs of their family, leading to support where needed including one to one and whole family support. The support offered is across a wide-range of networks, connecting and working with other services.
In the petition you mention young carers should be recognised and supported by public services and described how you have not felt able to access universal services and experienced bullying when you tried to do so in the past. Another aspect of the council’s Young Carers Support Service is to help improve how people and services think about the needs of young carers. This includes working with public services such as schools and GPs as well as community groups, to improve their understanding young carers needs. The intention is that in the future young carers will have a positive experience in accessing wider services and developing their interests.
We note your circumstances with access to the internet and to information and advice websites such as WISH. WISH can be used by schools to boost the pastoral support they provide by giving them a better understanding of the pressure that young carers experience and as a source of information to pass on to young people. The Young Carers Support Service could help you to access information or support you with problems at school. You can contact the service, called the Early Help Team, on 01432 260261.
We hope that this addresses the points you have raised and you are reassured that the council is working in line with the government guidance to improve the experience of carers of all ages in Herefordshire. While there is currently no specific council funding available to replace the HCS’s charitable funding, council staff will look at the potential for a future funding scheme to support young carers or other groups of young people, as well as continuing to support HCS to identify and apply for other funding as opportunities arise.