Young Carer Grant - interim evaluation: qualitative research (Annex A)

Chapter 1: Introduction

This report presents the findings of qualitative research with young carers, and stakeholders who work with young carers, exploring their experiences of the Young Carer Grant. It was commissioned by the Scottish Government to inform the interim evaluaton of the grant, and carried out by Ipsos MORI Scotland between November 2020 and March 2021.

Policy background

Section 1(1) of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 defines a carer as an individual who provides or intends to provide what is necessary to a 'cared-for person' in order to support their physical and mental health and wellbeing. This can encompass medical or nursing care, personal care, and practical or emotional support.

The Scottish Government has an overall aim that carers are supported on a consistent basis to allow them to continue caring, if that is their wish, in good health and wellbeing, allowing for a life of their own outside of caring^[3]. Social security delivers one aspect of this overall government approach to supporting carers, including through the provision of Carer's Allowance Supplement (available to carers who receive Carer's Allowance) and Young Carer Grant which is available to carers aged 16, 17 and 18 who do not receive Carer's Allowance.

There can be positive aspects to caring. Some young carers who took part in research to inform development of Young Carer Grant spoke about "learning life skills, interpersonal skills, and becoming responsible and mature at a young age. This included gaining skills through caring, but also learning to care for themselves at a young age and being independent".^[4]

However, there are also many challenges – which come at a critical transition point in young peoples' development and which may therefore have a long-term impact on their lives. The negative impacts of caring include poverty (young carers are more likely to live in low income households and are less likely to be able to take on part-time jobs); social isolation (young carers have less opportunity to socialise with peers); poorer physical^[5] and mental health (including worries about the wellbeing of the person they care for); and reduced educational opportunities (for example, by missing classes, having poor concentration due to stress, having less time to study, or not being able to attend college/university away from home).^[6]

In recognition of this, Young Carer Grant was launched in 2019 with the overall aim of helping young carers to improve their own quality of life by taking part in opportunities which are the norm for their non-caring peers. It is also intended to provide some recognition of their unpaid caring role.

The Young Carer Grant

Young Carer Grant consists of a one-off payment (£305.10 in 2020/21) which can be applied for annually by young carers living in Scotland.

It is up to the recipient how they spend the money: the guidance states "How you spend the Young Carer Grant is up to you. You could use it for things like new clothes, driving lessons or a holiday. You do not need to tell us what you spend the money on"^[7].

To be eligible for Young Carer Grant, carers must:

• be aged 16, 17 or 18 (although those who could not apply before their 19th birthday due to the disruption caused by COVID-19 can still apply)
• have been caring for 1, 2 or 3 people for an average of 16 hours or more a week for at least 3 months before applying (if someone cares for more than one person, they can combine the hours of the people they care for to average 16 hours or more a week)
• be caring for someone in receipt of one or more of the following qualifying benefits for at least the last 3 months: the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP); the middle or highest care rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), including Child Disability Living Allowance; Attendance Allowance; Armed Forces Independence Payment; Constant Attendance Allowance
• not be providing care as part of a volunteer scheme or as part of a job (being paid to provide care)
• not be in receipt of the Carers Allowance.

Only one young carer can apply for Young Carer Grant per cared-for person, even if they share caring responsibilities with another young carer. Therefore young carers who share caring resonsibility with a young carer who has already received Young Carer Grant will be ineligible to apply in the same year. This is referred to as the ''one carer rule'' in the remainder of this report.

Young Carer Grant is, of course, only one element of a wider package of support available to young carers which includes support provided through schools, colleges and universities; social services; the Young Carers Package provided by Young Scot; and a range of third sector organisations including local young carers' groups.

The key policy objectives of Young Carer Grant are to provide young carers with financial assistance that can help them to:

• engage in social, leisure, employment/training or education opportunities that are the norm for their non-caring peers and which they might not have been able to do otherwise
• feel a sense of choice and control over their lives
• feel like it has positively impacted their lives
• feel that they have been recognised for the caring role they provide.

This research

Ipsos MORI Scotland was commissioned by the Scottish Government to conduct qualitative research with young carers, and stakeholders that work with them, to explore the experience of, and early impact of, Young Carer Grant on the lives of those that receive it.

The research was developed in partnership with officials at the Scottish Government and key external stakeholders who were part of a wider Research Advisory Group. The findings from this research will feed into a wider interim policy evaluation of Young Carer Grant which will provide evidence on the early delivery and impact of Young Carer Grant and inform ongoing policy development.

A full evaluation of Young Carer Grant is planned for 2023/24 once the benefit has been live for at least three years, by which time eligible carers may have received three separate grants and the full impact of the grant can be better assessed. At this point, we are only reporting on the experience and impact of the initial payments.

Report structure

The next chapter describes the research methods. Chapter 3 discusses the way carers used the grant and the extent to which this was affected by COVID-19. Chapter 4 explores the impact of Young Carer Grant on young carers' quality of life and feelings of recognition. Chapter 5 looks at young carers' experiences of the application process. Chapter 6 outlines barriers young carers may face when applying for Young Carer Grant. The conclusions and implications for policy are discussed in Chapter 7.

Three short pen portraits, illustrating the different experiences of Young Carer Grant recipients, are provided in Annex A and the topic guides used for the interviews are shown at Annex B.