https://carers.org/young-carers-action-day/young-carers-action-day
Everything you need to know to get young carers involved and make some noise!
Dear colleague.
Young Carers Action Day (YCAD) is fast approaching on Wednesday 12 March.
So, I’m getting in touch with everything you need to know about:
This year’s theme
Our online resources to help you promote YCAD and get involved in activities
Information on when we will be releasing template press releases and social media assets to help you promote YCAD
How you can help us get young carers and young adult carers involved in creating and sharing their own YCAD-themed content
Video content that Carers Trust is creating for YCAD and for you to share on your own channels
What’s going on in Edinburgh
Theme for Young Carers Action Day 2025 – Give me a break
Bring young carers together for a break. And invite along your local MP/MSP/MS and local employers!
We know young carers and young adult carers can feel overwhelmed by their caring responsibilities on top of everything they do at school. They need a break, and that’s why this year’s YCAD takes place under the theme of ‘Give me a break’.
Our theme also highlights the importance of giving young carers a break in life, and the chance for them to succeed when given the proper support. That could be at school with teachers giving young carers more support to help balance caring responsibilities with schoolwork; or it could be employers giving young adult carers access to mentoring schemes, career insight days or internships.
So our theme this year is all about bringing young carers together – for some fun-filled activities that give them a well-earned break, as well as a chance to raise awareness of young carers and the challenges they face.
We know many of you have already got great plans in place for activities around YCAD this year. Please think aboutinviting local decision-makers and local employers to your event. This can be a great way for young carers to talk to MSPs and MPs and employers in a relaxed setting where they can talk about the challenges they face and support they need.
YCAD events, Edinburgh this year.
As well as YCAD events organised by you this year Carers Trust Scotland, at Holyrood in Edinburgh.
If you’re interested in bringing young carers to the activities in Edinburgh please sign up via Eventbrite links.
Social media content for young carers to create and share
Prize vouchers up for grabs!
Young carers told us that one of the things they most want to see from YCAD is really great social media content they can share. That means great content from young carers themselves. So, we are asking young carers to create their own videos, posters and stories using the theme of give me a break.
And to help get the creative juices flowing, we will provide £15 Love2Shop vouchers to the first 60 content contributors.
It’s really easy for young carers to contribute and everything they need to know is in the attached creative bried. We will be advertising this on our own social media channels. And we’d love you to make sure all the young carers and young adult carers at your carers service know how they can contribute content and be eligible for a prize voucher!
We will be bringing all this great content together and showcasing it on our webpages in early March. We will also beshowcasing young carers’ social media content across our social media channels in the week of YCAD. Make sure you are following us and share our content via #YoungCarersActionDay
Facebook Twitter / X Instagram LinkedIn
We are also really keen to showcase all the great events taking place across the UK on YCAD, and before. So please make sure you post images and short video clips on your social media channels. Please remember to use #YoungCarersActionDay and tag @CarersTrustScot if you can.
And as well as great social media content created by young carers, we will also be sharing our own social media assets for download from our webpages. These assets can be used by Network Partners and anyone working with young carers, as well as young carers themselves.
Our social media assets, along with embargoed videos and press release, will be downloadable from our website by early March, and we will be back in touch with you when they’re ready.
Look out for our young carer videos – and share them
We are making a series of videos sharing the experiences of some young carers in the UK and showing what additional support is needed. The voice of young carers will be at the heart of these films.
We will be putting these videos on our YouTube channel and other social media channels, as well as on the webpages we are creating for YCAD.
And we’d love you to help share our posts with young carers in your area on your own social media channels. This will really help us get our videos in front of as many young carers as possible, as well as employers and decision-makers in your area.
Template press releases
As in previous years, we will be sharing a template press release in early March. You will be able to add in your own details about YCAD activities you have planned. And remember, we can help by sending you a list of media email addresses in your area to help you get your press release to local media.
Get young carers and young adult carers to take our 3 minutes survey
We have created a really short 3 minutes survey which we’d love young carers and young adult carers to take. The survey asks questions about their ability to be able to take a break when they need it. The statistics that we get from the survey will be used to help create a news story in our press release. This will encourage more national and regional media outlets to cover YCAD.
Please encourage all young carers and young adult carers in your service to take the survey. The more young carers who take the survey, the stronger our statistics will be and the more media coverage we will get this YCAD.
Encourage young carers in your service to write to your local decision-maker!
Are you thinking of your service and/or young carers in your service writing to your MSP/MP or local councillors, calling for better support for young carers and young adult carers? If you are, here are some of our key requests for decision-makers that it would great for you to include:
If they will be willing to take a break from their busy schedules to spend time with young carers/your service
What are they going to do to help raise awareness with other decision-makers in their local area
If they will commit to using their role in Parliament to call for better identification and support for young carers and young adult carers
If your local politician responds and is happy to help, then we are really happy to advise on specific things that they could do to support our national work.
Our online resources already available
We’ve uploaded a series of posters (in English and Welsh) to help you promote YCAD. There are posters for young carers to post in their schools, as well as posters aimed at professionals working with children. We’ve also created a storytelling guide to help you and young carers to tell stories that really connect with audiences, and a Young Carers in Education guide for you to send to your contacts in education. Young Carers Action Day 2025: Resources
https://carers.org/young-carers-action-day-2025/young-carers-action-day-2025-resources
We are really looking forward to see lots of great activity across the Network. Please remember to tag @CarersTrustScot into your social media posts for YCAD and use #YoungCarersActionDay so we can see all the great activities taking place.
And please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
With best wishes.
Paul Traynor
Head of External Affairs , Carers Trust Scotland
ptraynor@carers.org
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