SWINDON Carers Centre have been given a £147,630 boost after a successful bid for a Big Lottery Fund grant.

The Reaching Communities grant will be used to create a new Young Carer Champion Award in partnership with Swindon schools.

It will also help the organisation offer an accredited award scheme under the umbrella of education charity and examination board AQA that will enable youngsters to learn activities that interest them and earn certificates

There are more than 20,000 to choose from including public speaking, fencing. And if a pupil chooses something that is not on the list the centre says it will do its best to get the subject included.

“We need to make sure young carers have the same advantages as non-carers,” deputy chief executive of the centre Fiona Prinzi told the Advertiser. “I’m really proud to be able to announce this, we have worked hard to get to the point we are at, and the engagement we have received has been fantastic.

“We want children from an early age to be able to talk about the caring work they do.”

“We would like to thank all education professionals who do outstanding work to support young carers in Swindon via the Young Carer Award and we are delighted to be able to develop this further with the Young Carer Champion Award over the next three years.

She said she applied for the funding a year ago in the hope it would not only help start the award scheme but also allow the charity to continue to employ a school development officer who gives support between schools and the young carers.

There are 900 young carers between the age of five and 18 with access to support for them in 68 of the town’s schools. In total the town is home to more than 21,000 carers of all ages.

Young carers help to look after parents or siblings who have illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues or even addictions and their work can include everything from washing their relatives, giving them medication and lifting them to housework, shopping and taking care of younger members of their families.

Over the next three years, the centre will continue to work with the schools, academies and colleges on the Young Carer Award and recruit a further 12 new schools during the academic year.

Fiona added: “The work we do saves Swindon Borough Council £395m a year.”

The idea for the award, which allows young people to have a break from their caring role, came from another scheme which pairs teachers or teaching assistants with young carers as mentors. So far 48 schools have taken part in the mentoring scheme. Those that complete it are presented with a mosaic created by Kemble artist Jo Moreman to hang up for visitors to see.