Inequalities in health, social participation, work & education of young carers

Background

Unpaid carers are increasingly important in providing help and support to people with a health condition or who have difficulties with everyday activities. Children and young people who provide care are an often overlooked but increasingly important group of unpaid carers.

Project aims

The aim of this project is to identify groups of young carers who might be most at risk of poor outcomes and identify why some young carers do better than predicted to shape the type of support and interventions that might be most effective. The findings of the project will complement programmatic evaluation by Carers Trust to provide a more holistic picture in a field with significant research gaps.

Research to date

Previous research on young carers has been limited in several important ways. There have been very few longitudinal studies of young carers to date and most studies have been cross-sectional. Numerous qualitative studies have provided useful insights into the experiences of being a young carer, but it is not possible to generalise these results to young carers UK-wide. Finally, there has been little exploration of inequalities in the effects of being a young carer by gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic circumstances.

Methods

The project makes use of data collected by the 3 Census-linked longitudinal studiies and the UK Household Longitudinal Study.

The team

• Dr Rebecca Lacey, ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Sudues, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL
• Professor Anne McMunn, ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Sudues, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL

Outputs

We will produce a range of outputs including including policy briefs, a report and a resource co-produced with young carers themselves. As these are produced they will be made available here and shared directly with all those interested in better supporting young carers.

Grant value

£300,000