“Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide me and the Carers Trust with the following information:
1. Can you tell us how many young carers* (aged 17 years and under) you have listed in your local authority area for the following years April to March: 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18; 2018/19.
Devon County Council (DCC) commissions a service to support young carers in Devon. Below is a summary indicating the number of young carers known to the Devon Young Carers Service (commissioned service) for the timescales requested:-
| Year | Number of Young Carers known to Young Carers Service at Year-End |
| 2014/15 | 3,527 |
| 2015/16 | 3,160 |
| 2016/17 | 3,108 |
| 2017/18 | 3,131 |
| 2018/19 | 1,129* |
* Decline in total number of young carers known to service linked to introduction of GDPR and data exercise which had to be undertaken by the service and consent required to continue to be known to service and data held.
You may be interested to view the health and wellbeing for young carers information held on the Devon Children and Families Partnership website.
2. Can you tell us the source of your information on numbers of young carers*** in your local authority area.
The source of the information is contract monitoring data reports and key performance indicators included in the contract for the service being commissioned.
3. Can you tell us how many of those young carers*** (ages 17 years and under) identified in question 1 – have had assessments, for the following years April to March: 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18; 2018/19.
Young Carers are offered an assessment at various points, however, they have the right to refuse this. The figures below represent the numbers of initial assessments undertaken in any year. A young Carer may receive ongoing support from the service having been assessed years previously. It is also important to note that young people and their families can also be offered an early help assessment which would coordinate a multi-agency package of support for them. The number below only relates to the first assessment undertaken by the contracted service provider for the Young Carers Service. Support can be offered without an assessment from a range of agencies such as schools, health services and early help family support.
2014/15 – Total number of young carers where young carer lead practitioner assessment/ visit done or where young carer is accessing young carer services – 407
2015/16 – Total number of young carers where young carer lead practitioner assessment/ visit done or where young carer is accessing young carer services – 431
2016/17 – Total number of new young carers assessed by the Devon Young Carers Service – 278
2017/18 – Total number of new young carers assessed by the Devon Young Carers Service – 410
2018/19 – Total number of new young carers assessed by the Devon Young Carers Service – 345 (the service also completed review assessments for 83 young carers during 2018/19).
The Young Carers Service commissioned by Devon County Council are required to undertake an assessment of children and young people’s needs to determine support and advice. It may be that following this assessment the service initiates an Early Help Response where an Early Help Assessment will be required leading to the service acting as Lead Professional and coordinating a multi-agency Team Around the Family**. Where other services or organisations initiate an Early Help Response, and this involves young carers, the service will contribute towards the Team Around the Family process that follows. Early Help Assessments Tools are built into Devon’s multi-agency Early Help data system ‘Right for Children’.
Any assessment undertaken by the Local Authority, for example Early Help Assessment or Section 47 Assessment and Enquiry, should consider needs and contexts of families and therefore have the potential to lead to the identification of young carers and their needs. This may also prompt a referral being made to the Young Carers Service with the consent of the young person and their family.
**Prior to April 2017, a CAF (Common Assessment Framework) assessment or a DAF (Devon assessment framework) assessment would have been completed.
4. Can you tell us how many young carers assessments you have carried out in your local authority area for the following years April to March: 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18; 2018/19.
Please see our response to question 3 above.
***definition of a young carer: A young carer is someone under 18 who helps look after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs or alcohol.”