Yesterday evening I attended my first Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee at Stockport Council.  This is the committee, made up of councillors of all parties plus a non-councillor rep, which looks at what the Children and Young People’s Directorate are doing and, hopefully, makes useful suggestions.

We saw an excellent example yesterday of how this can work well.  Over several months, a small cross-party group of councillors with officer support have been investigating the way young carers are helped.  These are young people who find themselves caring for parents or siblings for a variety of reasons.

National statistics suggest that there are probably around 1,000 young carers in Stockport, but we only know of around 150.  That’s the first problem: young carers often don’t want to admit it.  They fear being bullied or stigmatised at school, or simply don’t recognise that they are carers – thinking what they’re doing is the norm.

But caring for others is a heavy burden for any child to take on without support.  Young carers often do poorly in school, get into trouble when they arrive late and so on.

The report we saw last night identifies that these young carers need help, but not huge amounts.  If we can identify them, there are small steps that could make a real difference.  For example, schools simply understanding their situation and giving them a little more leeway, or giving them access to a phone at lunchtime so they can check all’s OK at home would make a real difference.

You can read the report here, starting on page 169 of the agenda.