Meeting documents

The Chairman will allow members of the public to ask a question or make a statement about any matter on the agenda for this meeting. These questions may be taken during the meeting, when the relevant agenda item is considered, at the Chairman’s discretion.  

The Chair of the Committee invited Mrs Adlam, Chair and Trustee of the Friends of Somerset Young Carers, to speak.

She noted that the Friends Charity have several concerns regarding the on-going provision of support for Young carers going forwards and have the following comments regarding the briefing paper submitted to this committee by Louise Fowler.

1. Budget differences- on the first page 1.3 b- the sum of £53k is stated as the Grant to young carers groups in Somerset but page 3 item 3.7 the actual figure given is £49564 a significant amount less. After successfully winning the Tender YMCA were then told they had to meet travel costs which I understand is putting their budgets under significant pressure. Further to this the Friends charity have received Grant Applications from Mendip YMCA for the Mendip Seniors & Junior Groups as well as South Somerset Seniors / Junior Groups - in this Application YMCA are asking our little charity to fund session costs for food, art materials etc- the Trustees and Committee have rejected this Grant Application as they feel this is core provision and the costs should be covered by YMCA from their original Tender Application to SCC

2. Numbers attending and referrals - the number of YCs attending Groups is much lower than under the old SCC project- we had been told that Referrals were going to be Open- i.e. anyone could refer, even self-refer; but then I understand that referrals are going through Team 8 which is delaying referral.

3. Another issue is that YMCA are only funded to run the Groups whilst some parents and Children are expecting help/ support outside of the Groups - YMCA do not have the remit to provide this support whilst Team 8 are involved with the higher need families and children- so there are many children/ families who are not receiving support as they are not high enough need, so things escalate until crisis point is reached- early interventions work but under the current provision these opportunities are missed- leading to escalation and crisis which cost everyone more in the long term.

4. Schools- 144 children identified but then what happens- referral to YMCA for groups or Team 8 if needed? or if the children want or need neither provision but would benefit from low level support where is the provision?

5. Bath Phil- under additional opportunities- this is presented in this report as a definite event/ piece of support that is going to happen- it is not. Jason Thornton has contacted the FoSYCP charity regarding additional funding for staff and travel costs -  ( a sum of approx. £12 K) to enable this event to take place as there will need to be 6 days of workshops/ development of the music etc which will be presented at the Glastonbury Festival or similar launch event. FoSYCP do not have the resources to fund this on their own and as I understand it neither do YMCA have any spare cash to fund this either.

It seems that the Council have the illusion that there are reserves in other organisations that are available to fund the basic provision for young carers in Somerset- there is not – so does this mean that at the end of the current academic year the young carers who save the Council so much money through carrying out their caring duties are left high and dry again?

The constant uncertainty is affecting our fund-raising activities as Donors are put off, thinking provision is under constant threat-all the organisations currently supporting young carers need an undertaking from the Council of a plan for the future.

My question to this committee is what does the Council really want at the end of this academic year? Or is the Council just going to step aside and try to blame YMCA / others for the failure to provide support for young carers in the County?

The Chair of the Committee thanked Mrs Adlam for taking the time to attend the meeting and make her points and asked the lead Officer for Young Carers to address the points made when presenting the report for agenda item 6.