Young carers are being deprived of a few hours of valuable respite.

12:00pm Friday 22nd July 2011

YOUNG people who struggle to fit their school and social lives around caring for sick loved ones have said Oxfordshire County Council is failing to live up to its pledge to support them.

Their claims come as Oxford Carers Centre has refused to bid for a new six-month council contract, saying County Hall’s terms will let down vulnerable young people.

At present, the Cowley Road charity runs 15 respite activities for young carers each month, half-funded by the council, giving them valuable time off from the round-the-clock job of looking after sick parents, siblings and grandparents.

But the countywide contract recommends young carers are offered “a minimum” of just a single respite activity between September and March.

Centre manager Verity Falvert-Martin said it covered too large an area and would mean a 33 per cent cut in charities’ funding.

She added: “The new contract would not meet our agenda as a charity, and the importance of giving time out to young carers.

“The council sees it as a ‘treat’, which we disagree with.

“It actually helps them build resilience, confidence and self esteem, and helps them become adults in the future.

“What they are offering meets the county council’s agenda and statistics.”

The centre, which works with 300 young carers between five and 25, will now rely on voluntary donations and grants to survive.

The county council says it is reorganising the way the service is run, focusing much of it around its seven new youth hubs, and it has maintained funding for young carers’ support despite widespread cuts.

In 2008, it launched its five-year Young Carers’ Strategy, working with young carers to outline how it wanted to support them.

Jennifer Chaundy, 17, from Blackbird Leys, looked after her mother from the age of five, and helped draw up the strategy three years ago.

She said: “From my point of view, I do not think the council is following the strategy I helped draw up.

“Young carers are quite isolated because of what we can do, and that affects us in many ways.

“Without the support I gained from the centre, I would not be who I am today.”

Seventeen-year-old Carrieanne Appleby, from Blackbird Leys, cared for her wheelchair-bound grandmother, who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She said: “I had to give her medicine every day, get her washed and dressed, and pay the bills, all while going to school.

“I was up at 5am, and would go to sleep at midnight, but had to get up twice a night to give her medicine.”

She said only support from the centre had helped her improve her grades and go on to study A-Levels, and she had met friends “who knew what it was like”.

The council said there were no proposals to reduce funding for young carers’ resources across the county.

Louise Chapman, the council’s cabinet member for children, education and families, said: “We’ve carried out extensive research and the view of young carers coincides with our view that one joined up service which really understands the needs of our young carers throughout the whole county is the best way of providing the very best support.”

The council has asked three current providers to bid for an interim contract between September 2011 and March 2012 and said it will formally re-commission services for the start of the next financial year.

http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/9154050.Respite_time_blow_hits_young_carers/?ref=rss