Issue - meetings

To receive and consider the Wokingham Young Carers Service report.

The Committee received the Young Carers report which was set out in agenda pages 37-50.  Sal Thirlway and Adam Davis presented the report.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Councillor Kerr stated that the service offered to young carers seemed good, she was interested to know more about the accessibility and engagement of the service;

·           Sal Thirlway stated that there were group activities as well as one to one activities which were offered.  Some young people’s responsibilities were such that they could not attend social activities, others liked the social activities as it offered release;

·           Councillor Kerr asked why 37% of referrals had been declined by families, she was concerned that the service may have been declined by the family and not by the young carer who may need the help.  Sal Thirlway stated that he would ask the report writer to answer this question;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked for more information about the young carer at school award, and he also asked if the rapid increase in numbers indicated that some young carers were not being identified;

·           Sal Thirlway stated that there was a lot of work being undertaken with schools helping them identify traits and signs that children may be caring for someone in their family;

·           Sal Thirlway would ask the report writer to respond the question about the school award;

·           Councillor Croy was surprised to note that there were no referrals from GPs (page 44) and asked if there was any engagement with GP’s.  Sal Thirlway would ask the report writer about this; and

·           Members were interested to know if there was a correlation with gender in the statistics, Sal Thirlway stated that there was no gender imbalance.

Members agreed that the unanswered questions would be referred to the report writer Lesley Buckland, Commissioning Specialist People’s Services.

RESOLVED That the report be noted and that the unanswered questions would be forwarded to Lesley Buckland.