Supporting Young Carers Across the UK
CHARMS is a tailored digital platform designed to help Young Carers Services streamline assessments, track support, and demonstrate improved outcomes for young people balancing care responsibilities with education and personal growth. CHARMS ensures compliance with relevant legislation and regulations while reducing administrative burdens.
Young carers typically help with cooking, cleaning, shopping, giving medication, providing emotional support, managing family budgets, and looking after siblings. CHARMS helps you support these young carers and their families effectively.
Practical Support Through Technology
Young carers aged 5-25 provide essential care for family members with physical or mental health conditions, disabilities, or substance misuse issues. CHARMS has a dedicated, secure Young Carers login so that the support service can share important information with them and so that they can read notes of support sessions and provide their own feedback.
Types of Support CHARMS Helps You Deliver
CHARMS enables you to manage and track all aspects of young carer support services:
🏠 Drop-in Centres & Respite
Manage drop-in sessions where young carers can take breaks, have fun, be children, and meet other young carers. Track attendance and measure impact on wellbeing.
👥 Peer Support Groups
Organise group activities and one-to-one sessions for young carers to share experiences, feelings, and support each other through similar challenges.
🎯 Mentoring Programs
Manage mentoring relationships and friendship programs. Monitor progress and outcomes for young carers receiving one-to-one support.
👨👩👧👦 Whole Family Support
Track support provided to the entire family unit, including parents' events and family outings that everyone can enjoy together.
🏫 School & Education Liaison
Coordinate with schools about young carers' extra responsibilities. Ensure educational settings understand and accommodate their caring roles.
💰 Financial & Practical Support
Track provision of financial guidance, benefit advice, and practical support for families managing complex care situations.
🚨 Crisis Support
Manage emergency support and crisis intervention. Ensure rapid response when young carers or their families face urgent situations.
How CHARMS Supports Young Carers Services
Young Carers' Assessments
Digitize and standardize assessments to identify needs quickly. Automatically generate support plans linked to local authority requirements and pathway planning. Track assessments from initial contact through to adult services transition.
Family Support Tracking
Record and monitor the impact of caring roles on education, health, and wellbeing. Track support provided to the person being cared for and other family members. Flag at-risk cases for early intervention.
Education Liaison
Coordinate with schools to ensure young carers receive adjustments (e.g., flexible deadlines, understanding of absences). Share updates securely with designated school staff and track educational outcomes.
Mental Health & Wellbeing Monitoring
Track emotional wellbeing with structured assessment tools. Monitor signs of stress, anxiety, or depression. Record CAMHS referrals or in-house counselling services when needed.
Dedicated Events and Activity Management
Organise and evaluate respite breaks, youth clubs, holiday activities, and peer support sessions. Track participation, measure outcomes, and plan future activities based on young carers' preferences.
24/7 Support Services
Manage access to helplines, crisis support, and out-of-hours services. Track usage of support services and ensure young carers know how to access help when needed.
Transition Planning
Plan and track transition to adult services at 18. Ensure continuity of support and preparation for independent living while maintaining caring responsibilities.
Impact Reporting
Generate reports demonstrating service effectiveness, including progress in life skills, reductions in isolation, improved school attendance, and enhanced family relationships. Ofsted-ready reporting included.
Online Mail Grabber (OMG)
Revolutionary email management - save emails and attachments directly to a young carer's case file with one click. Eliminate 2.5 hours of weekly admin time. Select multiple emails and "OMG it" to save everything instantly.
Multi-Agency Collaboration
Share information securely with social services, schools, healthcare providers, and other agencies. Maintain coordination across all services supporting the young carer and their family.
Mobile Access & Voice Recording
Access CHARMS on any device. Use voice-to-text functionality to record notes quickly during home visits or support sessions. Real-time updates ensure all team members stay informed.
Outcomes Tracking
Monitor progress against individual goals, track skill development, measure confidence growth, and demonstrate the positive impact of your young carers service on individuals and families.
Meeting UK Regulatory Requirements
CHARMS helps Young Carers Services comply with key legislation and inspection frameworks:
Inspections
Maintain evidence of safeguarding, staff training, outcome tracking, and service effectiveness for inspections.
Safeguarding
Record and manage concerns with automated alerts to Designated Safeguarding Leads and local authorities. Track vulnerable young carers and families.
Data Protection (GDPR)
GDPR-compliant storage for sensitive information with role-based access controls. Secure sharing with partner agencies and schools.
Local Authority Partnerships
Share data securely with social services, education, and health partners to streamline multi-agency support and avoid duplication.
Carers Strategy Compliance
Demonstrate how your service contributes to local and national carers' strategies, including identification, assessment, and support of young carers.
Accessible To All
CHARMS is at the forefront of innovation. The voice recording feature is both a time saver and a huge advantage for those who may find typing difficult - staff, young carers, family members. UserS may aslo apply the OpenDyslexic font throughout CHARMS. OpenDyslexic was created to help with some of the symptoms of dyslexia.
Ready to enhance your Young Carers Service?
Discover how CHARMS can help you deliver better support while meeting regulatory requirements and demonstrating positive outcomes for young carers and their families.
Call 0161 237 1872 to discuss your specific needs
Email: info@socialcarenetwork.com