Young carers
Case reference FOI2026/01333
Received 10 June 2026
Published 29 June 2026
Request
I am writing to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for information held by Herefordshire on its area's young carers. Specifically, I request responses to the following questions:
1. How many requests for young carers needs assessments has the council received since 1 Jan 2021? Please provide a total number as well as a breakdown by age. If a breakdown by age cannot be provided, please provide a breakdown by age group.
2. Does the council run a young carers registry and, if so, please provide the number of individuals actively registered on it, both as a total number as well as a breakdown by age. If a breakdown by age cannot be provided, please provide a breakdown by age group.
3. How much did the council spend, if anything, in the last fiscal year on support programs for young carers (i.e. unpaid carers 18 years of age or younger)?
4. Does the council have any specific supports in place for carers 8 years of age or younger? If so, what are they and how much money was spent on them in the last fiscal year?
5. Does the council have an age range for how it defines young carers?
Response
I am writing to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for information held by Herefordshire on its area's young carers. Specifically, I request responses to the following questions:
1. How many requests for young carers needs assessments has the council received since 1 Jan 2021? Please provide a total number as well as a breakdown by age. If a breakdown by age cannot be provided, please provide a breakdown by age group.
A: Total number of Young Carer’s referred into the Early Help Service since 2021 = 141
2021 – 13
2022 – 13
2023 – 7
2024 – 40
2025 - 38
2026 to end of June – 30
Please note reporting measures are more sophisticated since 2024 with the use of quarterly reports outlining accurate referrals into Early Help each quarter. The data reported for 2020-2023 has relied on manual spreadsheets only as previous quarterly reporting did not identify referral data.
Age range is 5 – 17.
2. Does the council run a young carers registry and, if so, please provide the number of individuals actively registered on it, both as a total number as well as a breakdown by age. If a breakdown by age cannot be provided, please provide a breakdown by age group.
A: We don’t have a registry within Herefordshire Council. This is provided by HYCC.
3. How much did the council spend, if anything, in the last fiscal year on support programs for young carers (i.e. unpaid carers 18 years of age or younger)?
A: Annual budget of £65,000 to provide the Young Carer service within Early Help Service. This is to cover provision of statutory Young Carer assessments and the required targeted support for young carers and their families.
4. Does the council have any specific supports in place for carers 8 years of age or younger? If so, what are they and how much money was spent on them in the last fiscal year?
A: We offer young carer assessments for all ages including under 8’s. This is included in the above budget
5. Does the council have an age range for how it defines young carers?
A: Yes – ‘Child and young person under 18 providing or intending to provide care for another person. They may look after someone if they are sick, have a disability, experiencing mental health or have difficulty with substance and alcohol misuse’
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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