When Laura*, 19, started taking on more caring responsibilities for her gran, she hadn’t realised she had become a young carer. Laura shares how important getting support from Barnardo’s has been to give her the opportunities needed to get into the career she’s always wanted.
Laura’s experience of becoming a young carer
Laura moved in with her grandparents at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, her gran’s health started to get worse.
“I moved in with my grandparents just before we went into lockdown. Within the first few months of living with my grandparents, my gran’s memory [and mobility] started to deteriorate,” Laura explained.
"In April 2021, when the lockdown was lifted, people were able to visit a bit more and they started realising my gran was going downhill … and that I was doing quite a bit for [her].”
One day not long after her 17th birthday, Laura came back from college to find her gran on the floor having had a seizure. She explained how her gran started to “deteriorate drastically” from then.
Laura
Young carer
Identifying as a young carer
For Laura, she hadn’t quite realised the weight she was carrying from caring for her gran and didn’t know she was a young carer until speaking with a college tutor.
“[My] college was closed during lockdown, and I was having a Zoom meeting with my form tutor. I basically said that I was living with my grandparents and explained how I was helping around the house.”
“I mentioned that I just needed to get out of the house and my tutor said that I qualified to come into college for a few days.”
“She sent me a letter not long after which stated I was a young carer. I laughed at first and thought it was a typo.”
“I was able to go into college for a few days and spend some time out of the house, but there wasn’t anything done afterwards to follow up or any extra support put in place.”
The effects of caring responsibilities on Laura’s mental health
“I used to get really anxious and worried about my gran’s safety and wellbeing, going to college and aiming to do well academically was also an added pressure,” Laura explained.
Laura
“There was a tremendous amount of worry – and it wasn’t until the end of my A-Levels when we finally started getting an adequate amount of support.”
“While I was doing my A-Levels, I lived with another family for 10 weeks so I could do my college work without the distractions and pressures of being a young carer. I'm extremely grateful for them because I don't think I would’ve got the A-Levels I did without them.”
How we supported Laura
Determined to not let her caring responsibilities stop her going onto her dream job, Laura got in contact with us when applying for university for some extra support.
“I first got in contact with Barnardo’s when I was applying for university. I’d read about the young carer’s criteria online to see if I could get a reduced offer on my grades because I was really worried at the time with A-Levels and caring for my gran.”
“I was able to meet with Jeanette from the Kirklees Young Carers service and she wrote a letter to go with my university application to confirm I was a young carer. I also had some [one on one] sessions with a Barnardo’s worker, Louise. She gave me some emotional wellbeing support.”
Talking with support workers gave Laura extra space to talk about her own feelings, anxieties, and any difficulties at home. It also helped her get a carer’s assessment for her grandad, and a needs assessment for her gran.
“It was always made very clear that if there were ever any problems with my gran or with social services, I could always just drop Jeanette or Louise a message,” Laura emphasised. “They also [helped] me feel not so guilty for putting myself first when it came to moving away for university.”
“I was also able to join the YAC (Young Adult Carers) group which was great. It was really good to meet other young carers and it gave me the space to be around other people who knew what I was going through.”
“We all understood each other's worries and that was really lovely.”
Getting into university, studying medicine and the importance of wider participation
While she was applying for university, Laura was accepted to Lancaster Medical School with a lower grade threshold due to her status as a young carer. This meant that some of the pressures around her A-Levels were reduced and gave her a fairer chance to get into medical school despite the challenges of having caring responsibilities.
However, Laura says that work still needs to be done as not all universities in the UK currently offer this support, and proving you’re a young carer can be challenging.
“I had such a lack of confidence that I’d get through my A-Levels, but I was very fortunate that I managed to get into two medical schools. That’s an achievement I’m really proud of.”
“[B]oth medical schools offered me lower grades. That was a massive safety net, knowing I had a much higher chance that I was [going to] be able to go to university.”
“For the first time, universities have started accepting young carers as a widening participation criteria but there’s still a lot of work that needs to happen.”
“They wanted a carers assessment, which ironically you can't get in Kirklees if you're under the age of 18 apart from some really strict exceptions.”
“My Barnardo’s project worker Jeanette sent a letter on my behalf to confirm I was actually a young carer – which is just another example of how Barnardo’s have been able to support me.”
Changes Laura wants to see happen to help support young carers
Despite everything she’s faced as a young carer, Laura is flourishing at Lancaster University studying medicine. However, she’s aware that so many other young people don’t have access to the right support to help them achieve their goals.
“It’s weird because stats-wise, I probably shouldn't be where I am today because of the challenges that have come from being a young carer and that's something that is just not right.”
“I feel like the government need to do more to widen access to higher education because being young carers shouldn't prevent us from going into the career we want,” Laura emphasised.
“I think universities should make it a national policy that evidence from young carers services can be considered as a widening participation criteria.”
“I know there are so many other people who have the potential to chase careers and achieve things they want to do in life that won’t be able to because they’re a young carer. That’s why widening participation is so important and why the government need to do more to support young carers to achieve fairer futures.”
*Name of young person has been changed to protect their identity.
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