Westminster View - Committing to a principle backing the county’s carers

I had the privilege recently of visiting the Scottish Young Carers Festival and meeting young carers from Angus Young Carers and across Scotland, writes Lara Bird MP.

The festival is a wonderful opportunity for young carers to take a well-earned break, make new friends and simply enjoy being young.

“Young carers make an enormous contribution to their families and communities, often balancing caring responsibilities alongside school, friendships and all the other challenges that come with growing up.”

placeholder image — “Young carers make an enormous contribution to their families and communities, often balancing caring responsibilities alongside school, friendships and all the other challenges that come with growing up.”

It was fantastic to see so many young people laughing, taking part in activities and spending time together, in a space where they could feel recognised and supported.

But what struck me most were the personal accounts I heard from young carers about their experiences and the responsibilities they take on every day.

Young carers make an enormous contribution to their families and communities, often balancing caring responsibilities alongside school, friendships and all the other challenges that come with growing up.

Those conversations reinforced for me the importance of recognising the contribution carers make, and of ensuring that support is there throughout every stage of their lives.

There is a wider need, too, to recognise those within our communities whose voices can too easily go unheard or who find themselves at the edges of policymaking, without a seat at the table. Young carers are one example of that, and listening to their experiences is essential if we are to make decisions that genuinely reflect the lives of the people we represent.

I look forward to meeting with Angus Young Carers again in the near future to hear more about their priorities and discuss how I can best support them in my role as their MP. Listening directly to carers and working alongside the organisations that support them will be an important part of making sure their experiences inform the work I do at Westminster.

During the festival, I was also proud to sign the Young Carers’ Pledge. When I signed it, I wrote a commitment that I want to carry through my work as an MP:-

“To stand by you at every stage of your life. To listen, to learn from you, and to make sure that you are always at the centre of the conversation.”

That is the commitment I intend to take forward - not simply as words on a pledge, but as a principle for how I work with young carers and carers across Angus.