This practical toolkit for further education (FE) colleges in Wales highlights effective approaches to supporting young adult carers in FE. Young adult carers are young people aged 16-24 who provide unpaid care to someone, usually a member of their family, on a regular basis.

Learning and Work Institute (L&W) created this toolkit in collaboration with 36 young adult carers across Wales, who shared their experiences, views and insights into what effective support looks like in FE. Their input shaped the content and structure of this toolkit, so it’s focussed on what young adult carers say makes the biggest difference to their experiences of college. It is designed to complement and build on other sources of support and information for young adult carers in colleges.

Target audience

This toolkit is aimed at staff in learning support and/or wellbeing support roles in colleges. However, the content is relevant to staff across many different departments, especially those who have regular contact with learners, such as progress coaches and reception staff.

How to use this toolkit

The toolkit includes practical advice and tips, examples of effective practice, and resources and templates that colleges can use to boost their support for young adult carers. You can read it from start to finish, or navigate to the sections most relevant to your practice using the section headings below.

Acknowledgements

L&W would like to thank Medr for supporting the creation of this toolkit, and Carers Trust Wales, the young adult carers, young carers services and college staff who gave their time to help us develop the content of the toolkit.

Who are young adult carers?

Young adult carers are young people aged 16-24 who provide unpaid care to someone, usually a member of their family, on a regular basis.

They may care for a parent, sibling, grandparent or other relative who has a disability, long-term illness, mental health problem or other condition which results in a need for care, support or supervision.

While being a carer enables young people to develop many skills and positive personal attributes, a caring role often has a considerable impact on young people’s education, mental health and career prospects. The infographic below shows some statistics drawn from research with young adult carers. You can use this in training and awareness-raising activities with staff and students.

Underpinning high quality support for young adult carers in further education is an organisational commitment to improving outcomes for this group and a culture of learner-centred support. Colleges across Wales described how they had achieved this.

Actions included:

• A dedicated young adult carers policy – while most colleges embed young adult carers into their safeguarding and wellbeing policies, some have developed a dedicated young adult carer policy. For these colleges, this has provided the strategic focus needed for senior leadership and governors to prioritise young adult carers as a group in need of support. You can use this template to create a young adult carers policy for your college.
• A dedicated lead for young adult carers at senior and operational levels – having an operational lead or champion for young adult carers is an effective way to ensure that staff and students know who to go to for specialist support. However, it is crucial that their details are promoted effectively and regularly to staff and students, for example, via posters around campus (see Gower College Swansea’s example here) the intranet and regular reminders at meetings and tutorials. A lead governor for young adult carers also helps to drive strategic support for this group amongst senior leadership and across the college.

• Taking a whole-organisation trauma-informed (TrACE) approach – throughout our engagement with young adult carers, they consistently highlighted the importance of staff taking an empathetic, non-judgemental and inclusive approach to support. This trauma-informed approach to supporting students benefits not only young adult carers but all students.

• Involving young adult carers in the development and review of support – co-creating resources, policies, processes and support offers with young adult carers ensures that colleges are offering what young adult carers need when they need it most. For example, Bridgend College has recently updated their dedicated young adult carers policy with input from students with caring responsibilities to ensure it covers all the forms of support they want to see at the college.
• Partnership working – a strong partnership with the local young carers service is instrumental in boosting support for young adult carers at every stage of their learner journey at college, from identification and transition support, through to help with wellbeing, finances and next steps after college. Partnerships with schools, local authorities and other community organisations that can offer support are also important in providing a holistic support offer for young adult carers.

Young adult carers consistently highlight staff training and awareness of young adult carers as crucial in improving the support they receive at college. Many see this as the foundation for good support, with all other aspects included in this toolkit stemming from staff members’ understanding and approach to supporting young adult carers.

In particular, young adult carers highlight the need for:

• All staff to have training on young adult carers as part of their staff induction – this includes teaching, administrative, pastoral and wider staff, so that support is consistent and anyone can identify and understand young adult carers. Download template slides for a staff training session. You can also use Carers Trust Wales’ resources to raise awareness amongst staff.

• Staff to have regular refresher training so that young adult carers remain a key priority group for support. This could be a short, online course that staff complete on inset days, or that is delivered as part of teams’ training days.
• Young adult carers to be involved in the design and delivery of staff training, so that real experiences are shared and content is more impactful. Staff should ensure that young adult carers are fully supported throughout this process so that they feel safe and only share that which they are comfortable sharing. This aligns with the learner engagement code.
• Regular reminders to staff about the support available to young adult carers in college. This could be done as quick updates in staff meetings, or by sharing leaflets by email or in the staff room throughout the year. This leaflet from Bridgend College is a good example of a reminder to staff.
• Colleges to run regular awareness raising activities around national events such as Carers Week and Young Carers Action Day, during staff meetings, tutorials, lessons or assemblies. This can improve awareness amongst students as well as staff.

Young adult carers say it is important that staff training covers:

• How to identify young adult carers – spotting the signs that somebody might have caring responsibilities and helping young people themselves recognise that they might be a carer, so they can access appropriate support.
  
• What it means to be a young adult carer at college – young people suggest including testimonials or videos of young people showing “a day in the life” of a young adult carer, to demonstrate the impact this can have on their learning. You can use the example “a day in the life” handout in any staff training you deliver.
  
• The support available to young adult carers at their college and in their local area, so staff can help young people access this and signpost them to the right team, staff member or service.

Taking a trauma-informed approach to supporting young adult carers: being empathetic (but not pitying) and discreet, asking questions before jumping to conclusions, and understanding that college may not be a priority for a young person on any given day.

Supporting young adult carers’ transitions into college

What matters here:

Support for young adult carers in further education should start before they set foot in college. Young people told us that transition support is key in ensuring a positive start to their time at college and reducing the likelihood of crises occurring. Key aspects of support at this stage includes:

• Data sharing between schools and colleges – having arrangements in place so that schools can share information on which students are young adult carers, the impact their caring may have on their learning and what support they need to overcome this. This takes the onus off young people to self-identify as a carer.

• Communicating the full support on offer to young adult carers, to ensure fair and consistent access. Many young people spoke about the difficulty of knowing what support was available to them at college, and that they only received support when they asked for it. Instead, they suggest that colleges should share a “menu” of support, that carers can pick and choose from. Young adult carers suggest this could be achieved in a range of ways, including: having an information pack on their first day; including information in enrolment and induction talks and handouts; and running freshers’ fairs with different staff and services available for students to speak to. NPTC Group’s specialist support for students booklet and carers charter are good examples of this.
• Transition or taster days for young adult carers to familiarise themselves with the college campus, meet staff and peers, and understand the support they can access to help with their learning. Having quieter spaces on enrolment days for young adult carers to speak to staff about their caring is also valuable.

While young people feel that the ideal route to identifying young adult carers is through data sharing between schools and colleges, they recognise that this is not always possible or pragmatic, and that it does often fall on students to declare their caring role.

They suggest a range of actions colleges can take to facilitate this:

• Ensuring all access forms include the option for students to identify as a young adult carer – this includes application and enrolment forms, Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) or other financial support applications and any learner support forms.
• Providing ongoing ways for students to identify as a carer, such as through tutorials or learning support meetings, having a dedicated staff member or email address for students to contact, implementing a comments box or QR code that students can scan and submit information about themselves.

• Training staff in how to identify young adult carers, so that even if a student does not recognise this themselves, staff can direct them to support and help them understand their role as a carer.
• Logging young adult carer IDs on a central system, so once one staff member is aware that a student is a carer, this is shared across teams and young people don’t have to repeatedly declare to different teachers.

• Create a discreet way for young adult carers to identify themselves to staff, without having to explain their situation multiple times or in front of their peers. Suggestions include having a small badge or logo on their student card, having a separate young carers ID card, or having different coloured lanyards. This could build on the Welsh Government funded Young Carers ID Card scheme,  supported by Carers Trust Wales in partnership with local authorities.

• Promote support for carers and the details of the college carers lead – young people reflect that students are more likely to tell college they are a carer if they understand that they can access additional support, and that there is a dedicated member of staff who understands young adult carers. Gower College Swansea’s leaflet for young adult carers is a good example of this.

• Make it clear that support is discreet and confidential – young adult carers told us they are more likely to come forward if they are confident that information they share will be kept confidential from other students, and only the minimum information required will be shared with other staff.

Young adult carers suggest lots of different ways that colleges can communicate with them effectively. They highlight that different people look at, read and engage with different types of communication, so it is important that colleges use a range of communication routes. Suggestions for direct communication with young adult carers include:

• Creating a Young Adult Carer Forum, which colleges can bring together a few times a year to involve in decision-making about their support offer for young adult carers; what and how this should be communicated to students; topics for staff training; and the review of policies or new processes and resources. This aligns with the learner engagement code. Forum members could also act as representatives for other young adult carers to raise issues with, which can then be fed back to senior staff. They could also help raise awareness of young adult carers amongst students, co-deliver staff training and promote the support on offer at the college.

Suggestions for wider communications and awareness raising include:

• Advertising the full support available for young adult carers on the college website, social media (especially TikTok and Instagram), and prospectuses. NPTC Group’s specialist support for students booklet and carers charter are good examples of this.

• Promoting the details of the college’s designated carers lead(s) around campus, using posters, leaflets and information screens. These could be designed by young adult carers to make them more appealing.
• Including information on support and designated leads in talks during school visits, open days, enrolment, induction sessions and tutorials.
• Including articles or sections in student newsletters about support for young adult carers and any upcoming events or awareness raising days.
• Delivering young carer awareness days, assemblies or lessons so other students learn about what it means to be a young adult carer, and help more young people self-identify.

Ongoing support

This section sets out the range of support that young adult carers feel is important in enabling students with caring responsibilities to engage, achieve and progress in further education. These are grouped into financial support; wellbeing support; learning support; and employability and progression support.

Financial support:

Costs are a key factor in young adult carers’ decision making about which colleges and courses to apply for. Their families are often limited in their ability to work, or much of the household income is spent on supporting the person they care for.

As such, financial support is key in helping young adult carers overcome cost barriers to FE and engage more regularly in learning.

Financial support highlighted as important by young adult carers includes:

• Authorised absence for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments – this is the most important element of financial support identified by young adult carers. Flexibility on authorised absences for EMA is key in enabling them to continue attending and achieving at college. Where this isn’t in place, young people quickly get stuck in a spiral of not being able to afford to come into college, which means not receiving EMA payments, and the cycle continues.
• Transport – passes for a dedicated college bus are useful but discounts or passes for general public transport are preferred, to enable young people to go home and return to college within the day if needed.
• Waiving enrolment and application fees – young people emphasise the importance of being clear about any fees and exactly how much these are, but also deeply appreciate colleges waiving these for young adult carers.
• Equipment – especially for those on practical courses which require uniform, materials, equipment and tools. Books are also an expense that young people appreciate help with.
• Lunch costs and/or a food bank – covering the cost of meals when at college or being able to take food home for the weekend is valued by young people.
• Flexibility on household income threshold for Financial Contingency Fund (FCF) and EMA – some colleges are flexible on these thresholds for young adult carers, in recognition of the additional costs of caring.

Wellbeing support

Mental health is a significant challenge for many young adult carers. Caring takes a toll on young people’s wellbeing, with the stress and anxiety about the person they care for weighing on their minds. As such, wellbeing support is a key element of the help that young adult carers value at college.

Key elements of good wellbeing support identified by young adult carers include:

Having someone to speak and offload to – having regular drop-in times or knowing who in the wellbeing team they can speak to is important for young adult carers, who often just need someone to talk things through with. This doesn’t always have to be formal counselling with a trained professional – just someone willing to listen and empathise is useful.

• Someone checking in on them regularly – similarly to the above, having someone proactively contact them on a regular basis to see how they were doing is important to young adult carers. This helps them feel that their college cares and also acts as a reminder of the support available to them.
• Understanding and empathy from teachers and other staff – this is crucial for young adult carers, who emphasise that understanding and acceptance from staff makes all the difference in their engagement with college. In particular, young people need to not be “criticised” for coming in late, missing college or deadlines. Instead, they want teachers to take a trauma-informed approach and explore why this is happening and what other support they may need.

• Peer support – this can be important for young adult carers to maintain their wellbeing. Colleges can run in-person or online groups, or have online spaces where young adult carers can connect and offer support and advice.
• Counselling – formal counselling is very useful for young adult carers, and it is always seen as positive if college can facilitate access to this. However, young people highlight the need to ensure this is offered fairly and consistently across students, and that some don’t get quicker access than others.
• Referral to the local young carers service – many young adult carers receive considerable wellbeing support from their local young carers service, either through social activities, peer relationships or the support of another trusted adult. Ensuring that young people know about and are referred to the local young carers service (if they wish) is therefore an effective way to support young adult carers’ wellbeing.

Learning support

Young adult carers identified a range of support that colleges can put in place to enable them to engage in and achieve on their learning programmes. These include:

• Access to mobile phones – this is important to young adult carers so they can be sure they will not miss an important call from or about the person they care for, thereby reducing their anxiety and enabling them to concentrate in lessons.

• Flexibility around deadlines – caring is not always consistent: it can be more or less demanding depending on the cared-for person’s health, appointments and other commitments. As such, having a few days’ extension on deadlines can help young adult carers when their caring demands are high.
• Flexibility on attendance – similarly, caring may require young people to attend appointments, take siblings to school or be home at certain times of day. Staff understanding this and excusing them for arriving late or leaving early, or occasionally not coming into college at all, is valued by young adult carers.
• Options to join lessons from home or do work remotely – linked to the previous point, young adult carers sometimes need support to catch up or join lessons remotely, if their caring responsibilities prevent them from attending college.
• A quiet space to study and revise – home can be very intense and busy for young adult carers; as such, they don’t always have the time and space to complete coursework outside of college. Having a quiet place to study in a learning support centre can help them stay on track with their work. Young adult carers also appreciate being able to use this space to take a break from the busyness of campus, or to make private phone calls home.

• Ways to share if things have changed at home – while young adult carers would like a meeting to discuss their caring and support needs at the start of the year, they also need straightforward ways to update learning support staff when things change at home, as the health and needs of the person they care for can change at short notice.
• Access to the identification and assessment of additional learning needs and/or disabilities – it is important to recognise that young adult carers may also have additional learning needs and/or disabilities. Timely support to help identify and understand these needs, alongside access to appropriate assessment and, where relevant, diagnosis for conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD and autism, is highly valued by young adult carers.

Employability and progression support

Financial pressures at home, combined with the restrictions placed on them by their caring roles, mean that young adult carers need tailored employability support, both to help them secure work while at college and to think about their long-term careers.

Good quality employability support at college for young adult carers includes:

• Individual support to get a job while attending college – receiving tailored support from an employability officer to help them find a part-time job that fits around college and caring. Colleges should proactively promote the employability support available through their Employment and Enterprise Bureaus to young adult carers.

• Support to develop enterprise and entrepreneurial skills – self-employment may suit young adult carers as it can enable them to fit work around their caring responsibilities. Colleges can support young adult carers to develop these skills through their Employment and Enterprise Bureaus and should make this clear when promoting available support to students.
• Employer activities to raise aspirations – this includes workplace visits, career insight days and careers talks from carers in different professions, all focussed on support and rights for carers at work. Young adult carers also value work experience opportunities, but recognise this can be challenging for colleges to secure for students, so feel these other activities are useful alternatives.
• Clarity about potential progression routes – being clear in course information on websites and in prospectuses about the likely progression routes and careers for students after completing a course.
• Careers advice to think about next steps after college – young adult carers want this input early in their learning programmes, so they have time to put advice into practice before they finish their course. Staff can also encourage them to explore their own options via Careers Wales.

• Specialist support around university options – this involves individual help to think through factors that will influence decisions about university, such as location, distance from home, overcoming guilt around leaving, looking at support for young carers in higher education from individual universities and the government. Reaching Wider can also help colleges raise young adult carers’ aspirations around attending university.
• Help to find placements and apprenticeships – those on more vocational courses want more help to find suitable placements that are not far from home, and apprenticeship vacancies or other work-based learning programmes to move onto after college.