The Co-operative has selected Carers Trust as its 2013 charity of the year, a partnership worth a targeted £5m.

The charity, which was formed as a result of the April merger of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care, won the partnership after a vote. Two finalist charities had been put forward for the organisation’s members and 100,000 staff, with Scope missing out on the prize.

Co-operative’s partnership is focused on funding work with young carers and was revealed yesterday at the Co-operatives United World Festival and ICA Expo event in Manchester.

Peter Marks, group chief executive of the Co-operative (pictured), said: “Forming an integral part of our commitment to inspiring young people, the focus of our charity of the year relationship will be on 14-25 year olds in our communities… I am confident that with the help of our staff, customers and members we will be able to make a massive difference to thousands of young lives across the UK.”

A spokesman for the charity said that it received a lot of feedback from Co-operative staff and members that they had experienced either being a carer or knew someone who had been, and that personal connection - as well as the appeal of supporting a new charity - helped to win the Carers Trust the lucrative partnership.

Carers Trust CEO Thea Stein (pictured) said the high-profile partnership is just what the newly merged charity needs. “We are absolutely delighted, we believed that something extraordinary needed to happen to achieve a UK-wide profile for our cause and, this is it,” she said.