Should mobile phone ban in Hertfordshire classrooms apply to young carers?
Questions were asked about whether mobile phone bans in schools should apply to young carers in Hertfordshire “who may need access to their phones”.
Hertfordshire County Council has unveiled its action plan to support thousands of unpaid carers across the county who look after ailing family and friends.
The proposed Carers’ Strategy was presented to members of the Adult Care Services Committee on Thursday, July 2.
Tim Napper, senior development manager, told members: “Just as a brief reminder for context, this is about unpaid family and friend carers, so those who are supporting a loved one, friend, neighbour, who has perhaps a long-term illness, disability, or some other additional needs, it could be addiction, mental health concerns, all of those kinds of things.
“I think we’re quite conscious, incidentally, of the potential scale of that in the population. It was around one in 10 in Hertfordshire, but various reasons would probably suggest that’s under-reported, as people don’t always associate with that term.
“We do think that is an important area of work. The update you’ve got today in terms of the action plan takes account of a few different pieces of work that we’ve done since we last came to the panel.”
A multi-agency carers’ strategy has been in place for many years, although previously, separate strategies were issued for adults and young carers, while the new version covers both and runs from 2026 to 2028.
The new strategy was developed over the past year with “extensive co-production” with unpaid carers. The document proposes 33 separate actions divided into five core themes that carers said matter most to them - with the fifth theme suggested by carers themselves. They are:
• Be informed
• A life beyond caring
• Maintain health and wellbeing
• Receive consistent, joined-up services
• Being safe
Cllr Tony Kingsbury (Conservative, Welwyn Hatfield) thanked officers and praised the action plan as “very good”. He highlighted one action in the plan which described working more closely with GP practices to identify carers and ensure they’re offered appropriate support.
Cllr Kingsbury said: “I wonder if we could have ‘and timely support’ in there? Coincidentally, I’ve had it raised by a resident that they weren’t sure how GP practices are informed about someone dying in a care home or nursing home when they pass away, and how to update the records.
“They received a text, about five years after their mother had died, asking what sort of support they could have.”
Mr Napper responded: “On that specific point, it’s probably best not to comment today, but I can take it away and go and consult with colleagues in the ICB (integrated care board - responsible for the local NHS budget, as well as planning and funding local health services).
“In terms of our broader approach to this, we work very closely with health around trying to improve the experience of carers in primary care. We’ve had some really good leadership locally, certainly when the ICB was Herts and West Essex, some great leadership there.
“I’ve got no reason to think that won’t carry on in the new Central East, but nevertheless those relationships are in flux a little bit at the moment, so focusing my time at the moment is trying to make sure I’ve got the right contacts there, and understanding how we influence their work.”
Cllr Nigel Bell (Labour, West Watford) praised the action plan and said: “It’s good and important that you have coordination with children’s services… The very fact we’ve got the ‘no wrong door’ for young carers is a key thing and it’s the very fact that we’ve got that crossing over point.”
Cllr Calvin Horner (Lib Dem, Bishop’s Stortford), vice-chair of the committee, added: “I think it’s a very good piece of work and I thank you particularly for the engagement that you have with carers in Hertfordshire and other groups.
“I’m pleased to see that there’s been more co-production done since the last iteration, and I know that that’s something that will continue.”
Cllr Rachel Carter (Green, Hertford St Andrews) asked if hospitals had been approached over the plan, saying: “Sometimes as a relative, when you go into hospitals, staff don’t seem to understand what that relationship is?”
Mr Napper said: “We have full-time paid carers leads at both hospital trusts… The models are a tiny bit different at each hospital, so I think in Watford there are a couple of other paid staff, the North and Eastern Herts Lister [Hospital] lead has a volunteer team that supports her.
“In both cases, yeah, it is kind of fundamentally a one-lead post, so your point about how you then influence a whole hospital trust is well-made.
“I think there have been some things that have helped. Things like John’s Campaign, the right to stay with your relative in the hospital overnight. I think both trusts, to my recollection, embrace things like that. I think for those carers’ leads to then talk to their colleagues and saying, ‘Oh yes, we’re thinking about something like John’s Campaign’.”
Cllr Carter also asked about teachers, saying: “One of the things that young carers complain about is that they’re not understood by their teachers, that their issues are not understood by their teachers.
“With the mobile phone ban, which I think is a good thing generally, it may be that a young carer will need access to their phone to check on the person that they care for.”
Mr Napper responded: “Exactly, yes. I’ve seen Carers’ Trust nationally raise similar concerns about the mobile phone ban for young carers. Whatever the merits or otherwise of the proposal more widely, it will have that impact on young carers.
“I will take that back to our children’s services colleagues and just talk to them about what, if anything, we should be doing locally to prompt schools to think about that.”