Sutton's Health and Wellbeing Board has committed to enhancing support for young carers as part of a renewed focus on the Joint Carers Strategy. The strategy, which aims to ensure carers are recognised, valued, and supported, has seen significant progress over the past year, with a particular emphasis on improving the identification and support of young carers.

A group of young people and an adult pose for a photo, possibly during an outing related to the Joint Carers Strategy or Sutton Health and Care Plan.
A group of young people and an adult pose for a photo, possibly during an outing related to the Joint Carers Strategy or Sutton Health and Care Plan.

During a recent Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, councillors and officials discussed the ongoing delivery of the Joint Carers Strategy 2025-30. A key outcome of this discussion was the agreement to strengthen the oversight and delivery of Priority 4: Young Carers, by aligning it more closely with the Council's Children's and Family Services. This move is intended to further develop a dedicated pathway for young carers, improving their access to essential support. A proposed key action for 2026-2027 is to Formally align the oversight and delivery of Priority 4: Young Carers to the Council's Children's and Family Services to make further progress with young carers to create a young carer pathway and improve their access to support. This alignment is intended to continue the work with young carers to develop a pathway and enhance their access to support.

The strategy's progress report highlighted several achievements in supporting carers of all ages. These include the establishment of the Carers Partnership Board, which ensures carer voices are heard in decision-making processes, and increased collaboration with St George's, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals on their Carers Charter. For young carers specifically, co-production activities with Young Carer Ambassadors have led to a reworded strategy section reflecting their priorities. Furthermore, a survey of local schools has been conducted to better understand the needs of young carers, and an online self-referral system has been added to the Council's website. Tangible improvements to the young carers pathway include: co-production activities with Young Carer Ambassadors to inform strategy priorities, the development of training for frontline workers to help identify young carers, and the addition of two Young Carers to the Carers Partnership Board to ensure their voices are included in strategy oversight. The meeting also highlighted that work is underway to create a young carer pathway across systems that improves access to support and is shaped by young carers themselves.

A young person in a school uniform and an adult in scrubs sit at a table with a game of Jenga and snacks, with a sign that reads
A young person in a school uniform and an adult in scrubs sit at a table with a game of Jenga and snacks, with a sign that reads "#SUTTON YOUNG CARERS".

The meeting also touched upon the broader Sutton Health and Care Plan, which outlines how partners are working to improve residents' health and wellbeing. This includes initiatives focused on neighbourhood working, proactive care for frail residents, improving access to GP services, and supporting people to remain independent at home. The plan acknowledges the vital role of carers in supporting these efforts.

Councillor Barry Lewis, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, expressed the importance of hearing from carers directly, stating, It's been really helpful, really informative hearing your voices. Thank you all.

Matt, a young carer ambassador, shared his perspective on the progress made: We've seen changes to the way we run our social media, the way that we write our newsletters, our leaflets. We've even looked into, obviously, rewriting the priorities and the strategy. And I think that that was a massive step. And now we're actually addressing those things one by one and going through them.

Emily, a young carer, raised a crucial point about the need for better understanding within schools: What support can you give for schools so they have a better understanding, because I went through secondary school for three years with no support, I was always late to school, getting in trouble, kind of thing like that, because none of the teachers, head teachers, none of that understood what I was going through.

In response, Nick Ireland, Strategic Director of People Services, acknowledged the importance of this issue, stating, working with schools and partners is really important. Lucy Botting, Chief Operating Officer for community providers, added that the school nursing service is a key area for supporting young carers and that this will be a focus in their transformation work. The school nursing service is undergoing a whole big piece of work that looks at transformation to determine what in school nursing could we do better in the 21st century. Specifically addressing young carers, it was stated that do we do enough to support young carers? Probably not. The identified need to have a look and see what it is that we could do that's even better to support you will be taken forward as part of this transformation work, with the implication that it will aim to better support young carers.

New statutory responsibilities for schools, introduced by the Wellbeing and Schools Act (2026), include the naming of Young Carer Leads within school settings. Furthermore, plans are in place for a local working group in Sutton, comprising representatives from education, health, and local GPs, to be formed in 2026/2027 to ensure these opportunities are captured within Sutton's strategy. Schools are also being encouraged to record young carers in the School Census, and the Department for Education is requiring annual data on their identification, attendance, and attainment. The Act also mandates that schools consider young carer wellbeing in their inspections and work alongside school nurses to understand and support young carers. Training for frontline workers, shaped with input from young carers, is also being developed to help them identify young carers. The meeting also highlighted that schools are using methods such as direct communication, self-identification, designated staff, and promotional activities to identify young carers.

A group of people sit in a circle, engaged in discussion during a meeting.
A group of people sit in a circle, engaged in discussion during a meeting.

The Carers Partnership Board (CPB) will ensure the voices of young carers are represented and acted upon through several mechanisms: Two Young Carers have joined the CPB, ensuring their perspectives are included in the oversight of the Joint Carers Strategy. Furthermore, co-production activities with Young Carer Ambassadors have been undertaken to allow young carers to inform the strategy's priorities using language accessible to them. The proposed key action for 2026-2027 to Strengthen the oversight and delivery of Priority 4: Young Carers to the Councils Children's and Family Services also aims to further progress with young carers and improve their access to support.

The board agreed to note the progress made in delivering the Joint Carers Strategy and to endorse the proposed actions for the coming year, including a continued focus on supporting carers and increasing their participation in decision-making processes. The full details of the strategy and progress can be found in the Public reports pack for the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on 7th September 2026.

Bar chart showing the hours of unpaid care provided per week, broken down by the age of the unpaid carer.
Bar chart showing the hours of unpaid care provided per week, broken down by the age of the unpaid carer.

A visual summary of unpaid carers in Sutton, detailing their age distribution, gender, ethnicity, and hours spent caring per week.
A visual summary of unpaid carers in Sutton, detailing their age distribution, gender, ethnicity, and hours spent caring per week.