Agenda item

YOUNG CARERS

Councillor Mrs Stephens (Chair of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel Task and Finish Group) and Councillor James (Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board have been invited to attend the meeting, to present the recommendations of the task and finish group.   

 

CMT Lead Officer: Director of Services for Children and Young People

 

A written report will also be submitted on the recommendations.

Minutes:

Councillor James (Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board) and Councillor Mrs Stephens (Chair of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel Task and Finish Group) presented the scrutiny report on young carers.  

 

Councillor James indicated that the task and finish group had exposed weaknesses and had demonstrated that there was a need for greater collaboration between children and adult services.  The recommendations of the task and finish group had been approved by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.  

 

Councillor Mrs Stephens reported that the members of the task and finish group had all found the evidence disquieting.  There was a worrying range of care with some young people undertaking all the responsibilities of the household which impacted on their lives and future opportunities.  It was also thought that there was a huge number of carers who had not been identified within the city.  Another concern highlighted was that adult social services were not identifying young carers so help could not be provided to them.

 

Councillor Monahan (Cabinet Member for Adult Health and Social Care) welcomed the recommendations and confirmed that he had spoken with officers within adult social care to ensure that better arrangements were in place to identify young carers. 

 

The Chair thanked Councillors James and Mrs Stephens and the members of the task and finish group, for their hard work and recommendations.

 

The Director of Services for Children and Young People submitted a written report on the recommendations of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel, through the Task and Finish Group, and recommended acceptance of the proposals with minor amendments as follows –

 

Recommendation 3

Other services supporting young carers, such as the Friends of Families of Special Children should also be praised for the work that they do to support this vulnerable group.

 

Recommendations 4 and 10

It was accepted that Plymouth City Council should review services for young carers within the limited resources it had available. Additional sources of funding should also be explored.

 

Recommendations 7 and 14

This expectation should be extended to include additional partners such as health.

 

Recommendations 18 and 19

The wording be amended to “Invite ….. to” rather than direct.

 

 

The Chair also proposed an amendment to recommendation 1 to show the DVD at a special event (rather than at a City Council meeting) so that young carers and representatives were able to attend and to provide an additional opportunity for questions and answers.    

 

Agreed that the recommendations of the task and finish group are accepted, as amended, below –

 

(1)

DVDs on Young Carers and Hidden Harm to be shown to a wider audience, e.g. at a special event with young carers and representatives, Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Health and Adult Social Care Panel;

 

(2)

Plymouth City Council should lead a media campaign to raise awareness of young carers in Plymouth;

 

(3)

 

the services supporting young carers, including Plymouth Young Carers at Efford, The Zone and Hamoaze House and the Friends of Families of Special Children, are praised for the good work they do to support this vulnerable group;

 

(4)

 

Plymouth City Council should review services for young carers within the limited resources it has available. Additional sources of funding should also be explored;

 

(5)

the level of joint training around young carers and Hidden Harm among Adults’ and Children’s workers should be addressed urgently;

 

(6)

a protocol to ensure closer working between adults’ workers and children’s workers must be developed;

 

(7)

Plymouth City Council and its partners (including Health) should provide young carers with assistance for carers duties, including safe lifting;

 

(8)

Plymouth City Council must ensure improved collaboration and commissioning between Adult and Children Social Services. This includes clarification of funding responsibility and possibly pooling of resources;

 

(9)

young carers should be given more prominence within the Carers Strategy and supporting activities;

 

(10)

appropriate respite for young carers will be considered as part of the review of services for young carers (referred to in (4) above), within the limited resources it has available. Additional sources of funding should also be explored;

 

(11)

progress is reviewed after six months by the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel;

 

(12)

Plymouth City Council uses its links through the Local Strategic Partnership to seek comments on the report from other agencies, such as the family court, probation, Children’s Trust, etc.

 

(13)

when a young carer is identified by Adult Social Services, that worker must trigger a referral to complete a full young carers’ assessment as part of the adult care plan;

 

(14)

Plymouth City Council and its partners (including Health) should provide young carers with assistance for carers duties, including safe lifting;

 

(15)

young carers should be identified as a vulnerable group by all agencies working with children and be provided with additional support where appropriate;

 

(16)

Plymouth City Council should work with schools to develop a strategy to help identify young carers and to ensure appropriate support is given. This includes an identified Governor/Inclusion Governor, to be trained in identifying young carers, and a named senior staff member to ensure young carers have a plan of educational support;

 

(17)

Plymouth City Council should evaluate existing services to ensure the universal offer is appropriate;

 

(18)

schools should be invited to give priority to young carers on the administration of school support or welfare funds and deal with requests sensitively;

 

(19)

headteacher representatives should be invited to come forward with proposals to audit and identify young carers in schools.

 

Supporting documents: