A big part of Carers Rights Day is about making sure that unpaid carers find out about local help and support. This is something that we can all play a part in!
Each year Carers UK carries out a survey of unpaid carers to understand the state of caring in the UK.
A record number of carers and former carers shared their experiences this year, with over 13,400 carers taking part in the survey. 12,424 of these are currently providing care. This makes this the largest State of Caring survey carried out by Carers UK to date.
A couple of stark facts include that “Half of all carers (51%) took over a year to recognise their caring role, with over a third (36%) taking over three years to recognise themselves as a carer. 71% of carers stated that seeing themselves primarily as a family member or friend was a barrier to identifying themselves as a carer.”
Also that “Over a third 36% of carers said that not knowing what services were available was a barrier to accessing support”. (See link to report below)
To help get the word out about available support, Carers’ Hub Lambeth have produced some helpful guides & an animation:
Our Signposting Guide: Top Tips for Unpaid carers
New for Carers Rights Day – info on accessing your rights
https://www.carershub.org.uk/_files/ugd/abd5ac_7b3108b66ffd48688461bbb4b931e6c0.pdf
Animation: find our about support available via the Lambeth Carers Card
If you are an unpaid carer, and interested in finding out about support available from Carers’ Hub Lambeth, we would love to hear from you. Contact the team on 020 7501 8970 or connect@carershub.org.uk or visit our website at www.carershub.org.uk
Maybe you have a friend, colleague or family member who is caring for someone – you can help by passing on the resources above and helping to share news of local support for carers.
Carers’ Hub marked Carers Rights Day with a series of special events this week. We were delighted to welcome the Health and Wellbeing Bus to We Are 336 on Tuesday, offering carers the chance to access health advice, blood pressure checks and flu vaccines. On Wednesday, carers had the opportunity to ask questions about Health & Social Care during our online Q&A. Finally, later today we’ll be hosting a Quiz night for young carers, and a Signposting event for carers aged 18 plus, giving carers the opportunity to hear from local organisations including Centre 70, Age UK Lambeth, Black Thrive and more! Thank you to all the carers and partners who have got involved.
Polly Howes, Carers Strategy Development Manager at Carers’ Hub Lambeth.
You can read the full State of Caring 2022 report here