Young Carers Support App (UK)
Discover Young Carers Support, a free, age-appropriate app for young people caring for someone at home – covering their rights, their education, their finances, and their own wellbeing.
If you commission or deliver services through a local authority, NHS team, charity, or youth organisation, you have one trusted resource to put directly in young carers' hands.
This means young people can find help privately, in their own time, without having to identify themselves first – which is often the hardest step of all.
Available free on the Apple App Store and Google Play. No account is required to download or use the app.
The burden that often goes unseen
As many as 1 in 5 children and young people in the UK are caring for someone at home, according to Barnardo's – managing medication, supporting a parent's mental health, caring for a sibling, keeping a household running. Often while trying to keep up with school, friendships, and growing up.
Many don't recognise themselves as carers. They assume this is just what family life looks like. And because they don't identify as carers, they don't seek support – and services don't always find them.
When that goes unacknowledged, it touches everything: mental health, school attendance, friendships, and in some cases serious distress. You see it in your caseloads every day.
Is this you?
Built for local authorities, NHS teams, carers' charities, and youth organisations. Three problems you'll recognise:
- They don't come forward – young carers who don't see themselves as carers never reach your service.
- Identification comes too late – by the time someone is referred, difficulties have often taken hold.
- Staff time can't stretch further – you can't find everyone, and the ones you miss are usually the most hidden.
All of it costs something – in young people found too late, in escalation that earlier support might have prevented, and in the pressure that lands on services when it does.
What you're giving young carers
Practical support for every part of their life, not just the emotional side. Put the app in their hands and you can:
- Help them recognise themselves – understanding what caring means, and that they're not alone.
- Explain their rights – what they're entitled to, and how to access it.
- Support them at school – managing caring responsibilities alongside learning.
- Cover money and benefits – financial support available to them and their families.
- Look after their wellbeing – stress, tiredness, friendships, and difficult feelings.
- Help them plan ahead – careers, transitions, and the future.
- Point them to the right support – local and national services, charities, and helplines.
Written in plain, age-appropriate language and easy to return to, especially when things feel overwhelming.
Safe to share – and built to fit your frameworks
For commissioners and safeguarding leads, the app is deliberately bounded. It:
- does not replace safeguarding assessments or statutory processes
- collects no personal data and does not monitor individuals
- supports self-care, rights awareness, and appropriate help-seeking alongside existing pathways
- does not provide diagnosis, treatment, or emergency response
A safe, proportionate tool to promote across local authority, NHS, and voluntary sector settings – without creating additional governance burden.
Make a difference – without straining budgets or teams
Four priorities it supports:
- Identify young carers earlier – by helping them recognise themselves first.
- Reduce escalation – support that arrives before difficulties take hold.
- Keep young people in education – practical help with the school and caring balance.
- Offer one consistent resource – the same trusted guidance across your whole area.
Free for young carers and organisations. No contracts, no set-up, no personal data collected.
Built to the standards you'd expect
Developed in partnership with West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, and co-produced with Barnardo's, Caring Together, Carers' Resource, and Family Action Leeds.
- PIF TICK accredited
- ORCHA assessed
- Listed on the Mind App Library
More on how we develop and quality-assure our content.
Make it local.
Local authorities, charities, and partner organisations can add a branded homepage and a directory of local services, support, and pathways – helping young carers find the right help sooner.
Let’s talk.
If you'd like to explore how the app could support young carers in your area, let's spend 20 minutes on it.