Openwork has announced that its new national charity partner for the next three years will be The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

The Openwork Foundation was established in 2005 and is funded and supported by Openwork’s staff and advisers.

Openwork will support the charity – set up on the initiative of The Princess Royal in 1991 to help carers gain recognition and provide them with the support required to meet their diverse needs – in the form of a £50,000 a year grant from the Openwork Foundation, the network’s community programme.

The grant, which will run from 2012 to 2014, will create two new funding programmes for young carers: Opening Doors and Respite Break. ‘Opening Doors’ is aimed at identifying hidden young carers to enable them to access the charity’s services while ‘Respite Break’ is a focused programme to allow those undertaking the heaviest caring roles to attend a relief break aimed at increasing their self-awareness and identifying their aspirations.

Sam Tesch, Openwork Foundation manager, said: “The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has done invaluable work for young carers over a long period of time and we are very pleased to be able to offer them our support for the next three years.””