Abstract
The article provides the first estimates of prevalence and trends in child poverty amongst young carers aged 5–19 in the UK using specialized income data from the Family Resources Survey / the Households Below Average Income Survey. Looking across four key indicators, we find that child poverty rates were higher amongst young carers than other children based on 3 years pooled data for 2013/14–2015/16. The differences in the prevalence of child poverty amongst young carers and other children are statistically significant in relation to two indicators (anchored low income before housing costs, and a combined measure of low income and material deprivation). Young carers also appear to have fared worse than other children in terms of trends in child poverty outcomes over the period that coincided with the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity. Amongst young carers, there was a statistically significant increase in relative low income after housing costs of nine percentage points (from 24 to 33%) between 2005/07 and 2013/15. This compares with a two percentage point decline amongst other children. Multivariate findings confirm that trends in child poverty outcomes amongst young carers were highly differentiated from those of other children and that the association between child poverty and young caring status strengthened over the period under observation. Multivariate analysis further suggests that the increases in child poverty rates amongst young carers were not driven by purely “compositional” factors relating to demographic characteristics of the households in which young carers live and that labour market factors are particularly important in explaining the trends that are observed. Overall, the findings from the study raise concerns that young carers were disproportionately impacted by the patterns of stagnating real income and declining income from employment that characterized the period following the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity, whilst underlining the importance of housing costs as a factor in child poverty amongst young carers, and raising important questions regarding the ongoing effectiveness of social protection for this group.
Highlights
This article examines child poverty outcomes amongst young carers in Britain
We use data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset to estimate the prevalence of child poverty amongst young carers compared to other children and to examine trends in child poverty outcomes amongst young carers over the period that coincided with the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity
Our findings add to the literature on young carers by providing robust evidence showing that child poverty outcomes among young carers are strongly differentiated from those of other children
Summary
This article examines child poverty outcomes amongst young carers in Britain. We set out new evidence on the prevalence of child poverty amongst young carers and analyse trends over the period that coincided with the financial crisis, economic downturn and onset of austerity. Our findings address a gap in social research on young carers. A review of the available international evidence suggests that, globally, there has been increasing awareness and social recognition of unpaid care giving by children and young people as a social phenomenon in both advanced industrial countries and developing countries - and of young carers as a distinct group of dependent children with needs, experiences and outcomes that are differentiated from children in general - over the last 25 years. A small but important body of social research examines this phenomenon and establishes that care giving by children and young people in different countries and contexts can be associated with adverse educational and health outcomes; social isolation and loneliness; bullying and stigmatization; and poor transitions into adulthood (Becker 2007). Our study addresses this research gap, focusing on the UK context
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