Leeds Young Carers Support Services’ – Spotlight on Wish 10
We are Young Carer Friendly (YCF) Leeds programme.
Since its pilot in 2022-2023 the Young Carer Friendly programme has developed, and our community has grown across the city.
Leeds’ Young Carer Friendly community now includes over 50 settings from across Children’s, Education, Adult’s, Health and Community and Third Sector organisations, that are either signed up as Young Carer Friendly or working towards their Quality Mark.
Alongside their individual work, our Young Carer Friendly settings’ Designated Lead’s for Young Carers (DLYC) meet quarterly to share best practice, discuss challenges and develop networks across the city, to ensure young carers and their families are appropriately identified, assessed, signposted and supported.
What do our colleagues say about being involved in the Young Carer Friendly programme?
- ‘It’s been brilliant to come to the DLYC meetings and have time with other Schools and colleagues from across Leeds, to hear about what they are doing and learn more about the local offer for young carers’
- ‘Successful referrals which has led to increased external support for Young Carer and family’
- ‘A highlight was engaging in the design of the YCF logo and having a Young People from our provisions contribute to this (and attend the event)’
- ‘Students receiving external support which is benefiting their wellbeing as a result of referral process’
- ‘We are pleased in the way that this is now just part of our Core Programming. It is not seen as an addition to our practice’
- ‘Young Carers are now part of our conversations, and all staff are more aware of how to identify and support them within school’
- ‘It was great to receive recognition of the YCF work in our Ofsted inspection in 2025 and how we were identifying and supporting young carers in our school. Being part of the YCF programme meant we had a clear structure of support to reference’
- ‘I was worried it would be a lot of extra work, but LYC made sure it was clear and concise, and it’s been easy to embed the YCF work into what we already do in school’
What It Means to Be Young Carer Friendly: Listening, Supporting, Empowering
- Being part of our Young Carer Friendly programme, will support early years, school and post 16 settings to identify and address the barriers that prevent young carers, from engaging in and enjoying learning.
- Education settings that sign up to become Young Carer Friendly, receive support from LYC to assess their current young carer identification and support mechanisms and establish a robust action plan, to improve outcomes for young carers.
- Part of this work is around the challenges young carers tell us they face, when trying to manage school/ college alongside their caring role and the pressure this can put on them.
- Being Young Carer Friendly supports learning settings to ensure they are meeting the needs of their young carers and enabling them to access their education, alongside their caring role.
- This work is done whilst appropriately signposting and referring young carers, to ensure they are not providing care that is negatively impacting their life.
- Hear what some young carers from LYC and across West Yorkshire had to say about their experiences, in this short film. What we want you to know about being a young carer
Contact Leeds Young Carers Support Service to find out more about the Young Carer Friendly programme and how you can get involved.
Email: leedsyoungcarers@family-action.org.uk or call: 0113 733 9126
To find out more about FREE Young Carer Friendly training opportunities, resources and posters, please click here. Interested in becoming a Designated Lead for Young Carers? Complete our enquiry form.
We are Young Carer Friendly Leeds Programme and Child Friendly Leeds Wish 10:
‘All children and young people are in learning settings that meet their needs’
