Child Poverty Amongst Young Carers in the UK: Prevalence and Trends in the Wake of the Financial Crisis, Economic Downturn and Onset of Austerity

Abstract

The article provides the first estimates of prevalence and trends in child poverty amongst young carers aged 5-19 in the UK using specialized income data from the Family Resources Survey / the Households Below Average Income Survey. Looking across four key indicators, we find that child poverty rates were higher amongst young carers than other children based on 3 years pooled data for 2013/14-2015/16. The differences in the prevalence of child poverty amongst young carers and other children are statistically significant in relation to two indicators (anchored low income before housing costs, and a combined measure of low income and material deprivation). Young carers also appear to have fared worse than other children in terms of trends in child poverty outcomes over the period that coincided with the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity. Amongst young carers, there was a statistically significant increase in relative low income after housing costs of nine percentage points (from 24 to 33%) between 2005/07 and 2013/15. This compares with a two percentage point decline amongst other children. Multivariate findings confirm that trends in child poverty outcomes amongst young carers were highly differentiated from those of other children and that the association between child poverty and young caring status strengthened over the period under observation. Multivariate analysis further suggests that the increases in child poverty rates amongst young carers were not driven by purely "compositional" factors relating to demographic characteristics of the households in which young carers live and that labour market factors are particularly important in explaining the trends that are observed. Overall, the findings from the study raise concerns that young carers were disproportionately impacted by the patterns of stagnating real income and declining income from employment that characterized the period following the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity, whilst underlining the importance of

The high cost of unpaid care by young people:health and economic impacts of providing unpaid care

“…Understanding Society avoids some of the difficulties by asking the young people themselves about care provision and by avoiding the term 'carer' (instead using phrases such as 'look after or give special help to'). Nonetheless, our sample selection may have missed some young adult carers, and the prevalence we use may therefore be an underestimate, particularly because the question does not specify giving help to someone with mental illhealth or drug or alcohol dependency, and these are needs that are supported by young carers more than other carers [56]. Another potential issue may be the degree of fluidity in caring responsibilities seen in both this dataset and for carers more generally.…”

Unequal Conditions of Care and the Implications for Social Policies on Young Carers

“…The census counted 149,929 children as young carers in England and Wales, equating to 2.1% of young people aged five to 17 years old as young carers (ONS, 2013). Other studies, including those that ask children to report on their involvement in unpaid care, rather than relying an adult in the family to respond on their behalf, find higher prevalence, for example 4.5% of children (Vizard et al, 2019). The research indicates that young carers are there in significant numbers and that there is a strong case for providing them with support services.…”

“…There is a lack of studies that examine the experience of young carers in relation to class and 'race' (Aldridge, 2018;Jones et al, 2002). Some recent studies have explored the subject of young carers and poverty (Vizard et al, 2019) or as LGBTQ + young adults (Traynor, 2016). Research into what categories of social difference, such as age and disability, mean for young carers has been added to the debate about how to understand children's relationships to care.…”

An exploration of young carers’ experiences in school and their perceptions regarding their future career - a scoping review protocol

“…Those from the lowest income groups are less likely to have discussed the choices with their parents compared with those from higher income groups and may therefore be in the greatest need of access to guidance counsellors. These findings can also be interrelated to the young carer experience where they commonly originate from a poorer socio-economic background ( Hill et al, 2011 ) and where child poverty is higher amongst young carers than other children ( Vizard et al, 2019 ). Young carers themselves may not wish to discuss their own future needs out of fear or guilt of having to leave the family home and the person they care for.…”

“…While a proportion of research on carers highlights the benefits and skillset gained through caring such as greater maturity and compassion ( Fives et al ., 2010 ), along with healthcare and advocacy skills ( Aldridge, 2014 ; Killam et al, 2016 ), the majority of research on young carers in school highlight the stresses and challenges experienced when combining caring with formal education needs ( Becker & Sempik, 2019 ). Recent research reveals specific issues that affect young carers in school include; falling asleep in class, truanting, lack of concentration, falling behind in work ( Vizard et al ., 2019 ), and poor school attendance and achievement ( Wong, 2016 ). The type of care delivered and the nature of the family members’ illness who the young carer supports, are proven to be significant indicators of the level of school engagement.…”