Research Projects

Our work is part of a growing, international effort to better understand and support younger young carers around the world.

1. Young Carers In Early Childhood

Young Carers in Early Childhood

Our Young Carers Illustrations Project is working very closely with the University of Plymouth’s Young Carers in Early Childhood programme led by Carly Ellicott. The World Health Organisation defines “Early Childhood” as 0-8 years and the needs and circumstances of young children with caring responsibilities from this age range are all too often overlooked and there is a need for more research in this area.

Our projects have very similar goals and are focused on promoting conversations with our youngest young carers and ensuring their voices are heard. Consequently we have decided to make “common cause” in seeking to ensure that the needs of these little children are not overlooked..

Much of what we know about the impact on young carers lives is derived from researchers’ interviews with them and also when these children speak out through engagement processes. Such research has been crucial, in demonstrating that there are very many more young carers than are identified in the government Census. This appears to be because one gets very different answers when asking children directly about their caring responsibilities, as compared to when adults are questioned about this.

To date though, very few opportunities have been created for young carers in early childhood to voice their experiences. As a consequence, we know much less about the impact caring responsibilities have on society's youngest carers and their families. There is a danger that society neglects to acknowledge children in early childhood when they think of who young carers are likely to be.

Research undertaken by Carly indicates that current awareness of young carers does not extend consistently into practice for professionals working with families and children in early childhood. Her research programme is aimed at closing a significant gap in our knowledge about the lives of our youngest young carers. and so we believe this work to be extremely important.

Carly Ellicott who is pictured (featured left/ elow?) with artist and author Ana Graça. Carly’s research will include analysing feedback about use of publications and illustrations from our project. You can read more about the research programme including how to contact Carly and her team by clicking here https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/psychology/young-carers-in-early-childhood-programme

Outputs from Carly’s research published to date started with a literature review in the Healthcare Journal https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11817451/

This has been followed by a paper in the Family Science Journal describing the experiences of some carers from their early childhood https://www.mdpi.com/3042-6693/1/2/8

Carly’s next paper is again published by the Healthcare Journal and this time on the front cover. It examines how professionals understand and support young carers in early childhood (0–8 years). The study also calls for action to ensure that young carers’ rights and needs are recognised at the earliest opportunity; including in early childhood https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/14/2

Carly is currently analysing materials submitted by and on behalf of younger young carers and will be reporting further with her conclusions later on in 2026.

2. MYTIME Young Carers

We were excited to read an excellent new research paper: “Born to Care: Understanding the Experiences of the Youngest Young Carers” authored by MYTIME Young Carers Level Up Coordinator, Jo Cooper.

Click here to read

The term “Younger Young Carers” has been coined within the Young Carers Alliance to describe young carers in early childhood (0 to 8 years old). This new report is a hugely important contribution to the developing conversation about how to ensure proper identification and support for these children. It contains important recommendations for our “Early Years” sector.

There are no lower age limits for the rights of young carers and yet many local authorities act as if there were. In some areas, commissioned services do not even start until age 8; unlawfully ignoring the needs of young carers in both early years and at key stage one in primary schools. All too often, children are missing support or recognition, sometimes waiting for as much as 10 years before receiving support.

The existence of very young children caring is not a rare exception but is commonplace across the whole of the UK. We look forward to working with Jo and others to ensure that these children have their needs recognised and supported.

3. Young carers and inequalities in educational attainment

Dr.Rebecca Lacey from the University of London (aka. Becca) has been leading a major research programme looking at the lives of young carers. Becca and colleagues have published (In January 2026) a hugely significant article on the impact of caring on the education of young carers. This looks at young carers educational attainment/absences at Key Stages 2 (end of primary) & 4 (GCSE-equivalent) in England.

A critical advance on previous work was achieved as they had *self-reported* young caring information linked to official education records. Consequently, the article contains valuable new data sets and the authors were able to make recommendations based on an impressive evidence base.

They found that:

Young carers have significantly lower attainment at both Key Stages 2 and 4
At Key Stage 2, young carers were 35% less likely than non-carers to meet age-expected attainment in reading, maths & writing
At Key Stage 4, Some 51% of young carers did not have 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C (grades 9-4) compared to 36% of non-carers.
Young carers had more school absences than non-carers

The researchers concluded that:

Support is urgently needed to help young carers balance their caring role and school
Early identification and support is critical to ensuring that young carers are not left behind
Young carers should be more clearly included within wider education policy as a vulnerable group

The conclusions in the article highlight “the need for early identification and support, particularly during primary years when gaps first emerge” It should be borne in mind that the effects on children’s education are largely cumulative. Many young carers at Key Sage 2 began caring at a young age - that is, at Key. Stage 1 or evenpreschool. To be fully effective, these are the life stages at which early identification of young carers needs to happen.

There is no lawful basis in any of the four UK nations for service commissioners to exclude children under eight from services or for local authorities to fail to take assessments of their needs.