The Mix to support young carers in partnership with Quilter plc and Carers Trust

by Françoise Facella

Communications & Events

Tuesday 7th August 2018

Quilter plc has launched an innovative collaborative partnership through its charitable foundation with Carers Trust and The Mix. The partnership aims to invest around £1.5 million over three years to develop and deliver pioneering support services for young carers in the UK, enhancing their future lifetime opportunities by building their sense of resilience and ensuring they receive vital support to move into adulthood.

Thanks to this funding, Carers Trust, the UK’s largest charity supporting unpaid carers, will be able to deliver grants programmes that provide immediate relief to young carers who face barriers to their wellbeing, education or employment prospects. These include activities such as maths tuition, residentials, confidence building, coaching, mindfulness and wellbeing classes, CV building, skills training and public speaking.

The programme will also look at inspiring long-term change by developing, piloting and evaluating new innovative programmes which support young carers to make positive changes along their journey into adulthood. The projects will aim to reduce the skills deficit and support young carers to reach their aspirations and longer term goals through peer support groups, 1-2-1 support and a range of wellbeing and resilience-building activities.

In the UK, there are 376,000 young people aged 16-25 with unpaid caring responsibilities, but experts believe this is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. Many young carers are hidden from view, slipping under the radar of vital support services.

As young carers can often become isolated because of their caring role, when they reach out for support, this can be online, to seek confidential advice or to chat to other young carers. The Mix is a free, confidential digital support service for under 25s. It connects young people to experts and their peers to talk and get support.

Recently, the government found that 67% of current or past young carers had not received any support. Many services are only funded to work with young carers up to the age of 18 and 79% young carers are worried about moving on as they felt there was no support for them. Yet this group experiences poorer mental and physical health than their peers, and misses out on opportunities in education and employment as a result of their caring responsibilities.

In November 2017, Quilter PLC launched the Quilter Foundation, a registered UK charity, aims to empower young people to transform their lives, to thrive and prosper, with the right support in place for them.

Chris Martin, CEO of The Mix, says:

“As a result of their caring responsibilities, many young carers miss out on opportunities in life and may struggle at school or university. The work they do is often hidden and they run the risk of isolation and struggles with their mental health. The Mix believes digital is great way to reach young carers to connect them to the life-changing help and peers groups they desperately need. We are excited to enter this partnership with Carers Trust with the support of the Quilter Foundation. Together we will work to increase the visibility of young carers, provide practical support and offer them the best information, support and signposting online.”

Paul Feeney, CEO of Quilter plc and Chair of The Quilter Foundation comments:

“Unpaid carers save the UK an astonishing £132 billion a year.* A figure that will most certainly grow as our society ages.  Young people involved in the care of family members can feel isolated, struggle with mental health issues and tend to have poorer outcomes in education and employment. That’s not acceptable and we can do something about that. As part of our partnership Quilter plc employees will bring their passion and time to directly help young carers in their local communities through Carers Trust’s network.”

Giles Meyer, CEO of Carers Trust, says:

“We know that young carers are more likely to fall behind, be bullied and suffer from anxiety and depression. The impact of caring at this critical stage can severely impact their ability to prosper in adulthood.

“We’re thrilled to start a 3-year partnership with Quilter plc to address this issue. Funds raised for the partnership will help us make a real difference to young carers lives and achieve a step-change in public understanding of caring responsibilities and attitude to young carers”

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Media enquiries:
For further information about The Mix please contact: [email protected]

Notes to editors:

About Carers Trust

Carers Trust is the UK’s largest charity for carers, with a network of 139 quality assured partners.

Carers Trust works to improve support, services and recognition for anyone living with the challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or a friend

www.carers.org

About The Quilter Foundation

The Quilter Foundation is Quilter plc’s charity and was established in November 2017. The Foundation’s mission is to help young people overcome barriers to prosperity with a focus on three key themes:

1. Education
2. Employment
3. Health & wellbeing

The Quilter Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales (1175555).

About Quilter plc

Quilter plc is a leading wealth management business in the UK and internationally, helping to create prosperity for the generations of today and tomorrow.

Quilter plc oversees £111.6 billion in customer investments (as at 31 March 2018).

It has an adviser and customer offering spanning: financial advice; investment platforms; multi-asset investment solutions and discretionary fund management.

The business is comprised of two segments: Wealth Platforms and Advice and Wealth Management.

Wealth Platforms includes the Old Mutual Wealth UK Platform; Old Mutual International, including AAM Advisory in Singapore; and the Old Mutual Wealth Heritage life assurance business.

Advice and Wealth Management encompasses the financial planning network, Intrinsic; Old Mutual Wealth Private Client Advisers; discretionary fund management business, Quilter Cheviot; and Quilter Investors.

The Quilter plc businesses will be re-branded to Quilter over a period of approximately two years following separation from Old Mutual:

• The Multi-asset business to Quilter Investors (completed July 2018)
• Intrinsic to Quilter Financial Planning
• Private Client Advisers to Quilter Private Client Advisers
• The UK Platform to Quilter Wealth Solutions
• The International business to Quilter International
• The Heritage life assurance business to Quilter Life Assurance
• Quilter Cheviot will retain its name.