Subject - Comic Relief Young Carers Grants Programme

Posted : (Friday 15th December 2006 ) By - Jane (Registered User)Application forms and guidelines are now available to download on the Small Grants and Large Grants pages of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers atwww.carers.org

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has been contracted by Comic Relief to distribute grants to voluntary sector services for young carers during 2006 and 2007. Young carers are children and young people who have a caring responsibility for a sick or disabled family member.

They take on caring responsibilities that are inappropriate to their age, such as personal care for a disabled adult or emotional care for a parent with a mental health problem. In addition, they are often responsible for younger siblings and all the household chores. For some young carers this means missing school, physical ill health and stress or sleepless nights.

To find out more about young carers, visit their young carers website atwww.youngcarers.net

The Grants Programme will be open to all voluntary sector organisations who wish to work with young carers. Grants of up to £25k per annum will be made available to 12-15 organisations from across the UK to develop high quality support projects over three years, with a 50% taper in the third year. The good practice and learning from these projects will contribute to a tool kit of knowledge for all Young Carers Services to utilise.

In addition there will also be a small grants programme, funding about 50 Young Carers Services to give one-to-one support to around 200 of the most vulnerable young carers, helping them to stay in school, to cope with the stress of caring or to develop their skills and confidence.

The Trust believes that no child should have to take on caring roles that are more appropriate for an adult. Sadly, this situation is the reality for many children and they hope that this partnership will help many young people to be children as well as carers.

Please note: If you have any queries or need any assistance, please email the Grants Team at grants@carers.org or call them on 0207 709 1332.