PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Carers: Young People (3 November 2020)

During the COVID-19 outbreak adult social care providers and services should still be maintaining their responsibilities under the Care Act 2014 and Children and Families Act 2014 to ensure young carers are identified and referred to appropriate support if needed.

The Government has published guidance for both schools and local authorities on how best to support to families and protect vulnerable children during COVID-19. This is available on GOV. UK. Local authority duties to assess the needs of young carers, under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, are unchanged.

The total number of young carers in England having received needs assessments in the last 12-month period is not available. However, as identified in the Characteristics of Children in Need: 2018 to 2019 statistics, there were 16,520 episodes of need assessments during the year ending 31 March 2019 where being a young carer was identified.