Carers look after family, partners or friends in need of help because they are ill, frail or have a disability. The care they provide is unpaid. Some of the tasks they undertake include; washing, dressing, toileting, feeding, shopping, laundry, administering medication, providing transport, etc.
There are three main types of carer:
Adult carers (adults who care for other adults)
Parent carers (adults who care for offspring with long-term illness or a disability)
Young carers (people under 18 who care for someone else)
We have a strategy for helping carers (
PDF Help, size 577kb).
Work, rest and play »
We recognise how important it is that carers receive time-out from their caring responsibilities in order to recharge their batteries. As such, we can help to arrange time out and short breaks for them with or without the person they care for. We can also help arrange short stays away from home for the person they care for.
We have information on events, activities and volunteering roles that carers can participate in. There are also training and learning opportunities that we can offer.
Getting support »
We can offer practical support at home and emotional support for carers. This is usually offered as a result of a carers assessment which we can undertake to establish your needs and agree with you how we can help meet them. We can also offer training and learning opportunities to help you manage better - coping with long-term illness or disability for example.
Involving carers »
We work very hard to ensure that carers are involved in shaping the support we provide other carers. To help us do this, we have established a number of carers forums and a carers register so that we can send you regular updates on information that may be useful to you.
Planning for crisis »
Because the person you are caring for is likely to be dependant on you, making plans for emergencies can be very important. An emergency might be something that happens to you (help for you in an emergency), the person you care for or it could be something that affects the area that you or they live in. Our Carers Emergency Card Scheme can provide you with piece of mind in case anything should happen to you and you are unable to carry out your caring responsibilities. Where the person you care for is admitted to hospital, we have drawn up a carer’s charter to ensure that you can still play an active role in caring for that person.
Help and support for carers »
In addition to everything above we also have information on carers’ benefits, financial issues and direct payments for carers. When you contact us, you will receive a copy of the carer's support pack that we have developed which gives you information about the kinds of services that are available to you. If you haven’t contacted us yet and would like one, please contact the Adult Access Team.