Young Carers Statement (YCS)
A Young Carer Statement is for anyone performing a caring role who is under the age of 18. It is known as a YCS for short.
Sorting out support for a child or loved one can be an intimidating process. It can sometimes be challenging and stressful.
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What is a YCS?
The purpose of the Young Carer Statement is to recognise the effects of a caring role and to find out what you need to enable you to have a life outside your caring role.
Under Carers(Scotland) Act 2016 all Young Carers are entitled to a Young Carers Statement(YCS).
This will allow a young carer to explore how they feel about their caring role; how their caring responsibilities impacts various areas of their life; identify their needs to have a life alongside caring and create personalised outcomes which are important to them.
The YCS is intended to ensure that young carer’s are seen as children and young people first and foremost and are protected from undertaking caring responsibilities which are deemed inappropriate.
Who is a young carer?
Under Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 the definition of a Young Carer is anyone aged 18, and under or 18, and still at school who provides or intends to provide care to someone with an illness or disability.
A Young Carer could be providing care for a parent, sibling, grandparent or a close family friend. They do not need to be the main carer and do not need to live with the person they care for.
The person they care for may have a range of:
illnesses disabilities
additional support needs
mental health conditions
alcohol/substance misuse
What is involved in getting in Young Carer Statement?
he Young Carer Statement (YCS) is usually created at the same time as the person being care for is being assessed for their own support needs.
Creating the Statement will usually be done by a Social Worker and will usually take place where the person being cared for lives.
The purpose of the Statement is to detail a young person’s needs as a carer.
This will involve looking at:
areas of life where they are doing many more tasks than a person who is not a carer
areas where they have a higher level of need than someone who is not caring for someone else
the effect that caring is having on their physical and emotional wellbeing
whether caring means they are isolated from family and friends
whether caring makes it difficult for them to work or go to school/college/university
whether caring stops them making plans for the future.
The purpose of asking these questions and making a Statement is to recognise the effects of a caring role and to find out what they need to enable you to have a life outside their caring role. As part of creating the Statement, the worker will ask if they are willing to undertake their caring role and if they are happy to undertake that role. The young person does not need to take on the role of being a young carer if they do not want to.
They will also ask about emergency planning. For example, what happens if they cannot do their usual caring role for some reason?
They will also ask about the future. For example, what does the young person want to do with their life now and in the future?
MIST Support Group
First Thursday of every month, 1 until 2:30pm, Blackburn Partnership Centre.
An open and friendly peer support group for all carers registered under the MIST service. It's open for you to attend on your own as a carer, where we will also have a separate space for the person you care for to get support via Cyrenians OPAL Project. (Please let us know in advance)
Have a look at our calendar for all our MIST events, or get in touch to find out more.
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Check the eligibility criteria
Your West Lothian social worker will discuss your Plan with you to decide what level of eligibility for support you have.
The West Lothian carer eligibility criteria can be viewed and downloaded:
Download a copy
Here’s an example of a YCS
Your West Lothian social worker will discuss your Plan with you to decide what level of eligibility for support you have.
The West Lothian carer eligibility criteria can be viewed and downloaded:
Download a copy
Your most asked questions about Young Carer Statements
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Unfortunately, there are often long waiting times to get a Statement in place.
The law does not say that a Statement should be created within a certain time.
One exception is if the person you care for has a terminal illness and is expected to pass away within the next six months. In this case, your Carer Assessment should be offered within two working days and a Young Carer Statement completed within ten working days.
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When the Statement is completed, the worker will pass a copy to you and check it is accurate.
If you do not think it has accurately reflected your situation or needs, you can ask for changes to be made to it.
If your Statement recognises that you need support in your own right, it may give you access to a small budget to enable you to get this support.
Your Statement should be reviewed at least once a year to see if your circumstances or needs have changed.
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The law about support for unpaid carers and young carers is called the Carers Act (Scotland) 2016.
It says:
if your council identifies you as a carer or young carer, they must offer you a Young Carer Statement
you must be given a copy of your Young Carer Statement, unless your local council considers this would not be appropriate. You can also request for the Statement to be shared with someone else.
You can find the full text of the law here.
The Carers Act Statutory Guidance is legal guidance written for local councils to tell them how support for carers and young carers should work.
The guidance sets out what councils are expected to do around Young Carer Statements, including:
their duties to offer and to prepare an Young Carer Statement, and carers’ right to request a plan
timescales for creating a Statement for a carer or young carer who cares for someone who is terminally ill
identifying the needs and outcomes of carers
the minimum information that an Young Carer Statement must contain
how Young Carer Statements should be reviewed
what information carers should get about their Statement.
You can see the part of the Statutory Guidance that talks about these things here.
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The Scottish Government have published the Carers’ Charter, to help carers understand their rights under the law.
More questions?
