Make a referral
Please note: Apologies but, due to very high demand, we currently have a waiting list of approx. six months (unless a condition is terminal).
SYC offers one year of support to:
Children and young people aged 8-25 who are living in Sheffield and caring for someone at home, usually a family member, with physical or mental illness and/or a disability.
Children and young people aged 8-25 who live in Sheffield and are affected by drug and alcohol issues in their family (now or in the past).
Family members, who can receive support if appropriate from our Family Project support workers.
Please note: We can only support one sibling from a family at a time (the child most impacted).
IMPORTANT: From November 2025, we have a new referral process for young carers aged under 18. A Young Carers Needs Assessment needs to be offered before young carers aged under 18 can access our service
Please click on these links to find out how to refer to our service for different people that we work with:
Referral process for young carers aged 8-17:
From 20th November 2025, a Young Carers Needs Assessment needs to be offered before young carers aged under 18 can access our service.
Young carers aged under 18 are entitled to a Young Carers Needs Assessment. This is a way to make sure young carers and their families get the support that they need. This support might come from our service, but other services might be able to offer useful support too.
The Young Carers Assessment Team are part of Sheffield City Council. If the young carer meets our criteria, they will refer on to us. They will also be able to access other support services for the young carer and their family.
Find out how to apply for a Young Carers Needs Assessment here.
if you have any issues or qeustions about the new assessment process, please contact:
Young Carers Assessment Team, Sheffield City Council
YoungCarersAssessmentTeam@sheffield.gov.uk
Tel: 0114 2056076
Referral process for young adult carers aged 18-25
Step 1: Please complete our online referral form (link) with as much information as possible.
Step 2: We will email referrers or families/young people for self-referrals to confirm we have received the form and let you know if we require any further information at this stage.
Step 3: If you give us consent to text, we also send a text every month while you’re on on our waiting list, to keep in touch and send useful information while you’re waiting to join SYC.
Step 4: Once your referral reaches the top of our waiting list, one of our workers will get in touch to speak over the phone or come and meet you, to talk through the support we can offer.
Information and help completing our referral form:
Please note - The online form is several pages long and progress cannot be saved, so please ensure you have full details to hand before starting to fill in the form. Before completing the referral form online, we recommend that you use the Word version below to gather all the information you need in advance.
Families/self referrals: If you have any problems or need any help completing our online referral form, please call us on 0114 258 4595 and we can arrange a time to call you and fill it in over the phone.
Download as Word Doc (can be typed into)
Having trouble downloading the files? Contact us and we will email the forms over to you.
If you prefer to complete a paper form, please send it to us via:
Post (marked ‘Confidential’) to Sheffield Young Carers, Sheaf Bank Business Park, Unit R7b Riverside Block,20 Prospect Road, Sheffield, S2 3EN or
Password protected email (you must send the password on a separate email) to information@sycp.org.uk
Referral process for young people aged 8-25 who are impacted by family substance but are not a young carer
Step 1: Please complete our online referral form (link) with as much information as possible.
Step 2: We will email referrers or families/young people for self-referrals to confirm we have received the form and let you know if we require any further information at this stage.
Step 3: If you give us consent to text, we also send a text every month while you’re on on our waiting list, to keep in touch and send useful information while you’re waiting to join SYC.
Step 4: Once your referral reaches the top of our waiting list, one of our workers will get in touch to speak over the phone or come and meet you, to talk through the support we can offer.
Information and help completing our referral form:
Please note - The online form is several pages long and progress cannot be saved, so please ensure you have full details to hand before starting to fill in the form. Before completing the referral form online, we recommend that you use the Word version below to gather all the information you need in advance.
Families/self referrals: If you have any problems or need any help completing our online referral form, please call us on 0114 258 4595 and we can arrange a time to call you and fill it in over the phone.
Download as Word Doc (can be typed into)
Having trouble downloading the files? Contact us and we will email the forms over to you.
If you prefer to complete a paper form, please send it to us via:
Post (marked ‘Confidential’) to Sheffield Young Carers, Sheaf Bank Business Park, Unit R7b Riverside Block,20 Prospect Road, Sheffield, S2 3EN
orPassword protected email (you must send the password on a separate email) to information@sycp.org.uk