Cheshire West launches new ‘carers’ charter’

Cheshire West and Chester Council have created a new carers’ charter to provide vital support for unpaid carers.

A carer can be anybody but not everybody has what it takes to be a carer. With this in mind, Chester Council and Cheshire West have teamed up with a number of social care organisations to help offer much-needed support for unpaid carers in the area.  

The service will be delivered by Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust alongside OPAL, Making Space, Alzheimer’s Society, Crossroads Together and Neuromuscular Centre. What’s more, young carers’ are also set to have their own support network which is being run by Cheshire Young Carers.

By committing to the charter, carers will be included in decisions regarding the people they care for and offered opportunities to help shape the services they use.

Various individuals have spoken up about how the support offered by the Carers Trust has helped them.

Pauline, who looks after her daughter, said: ‘I’m a carer for my daughter, who is 10 years old, and sometimes you do feel isolated so it’s nice to speak to other carers in the same position.’

Dawn, another carer, added: ‘Attending these sessions is sometimes the only way you can shut off. If you feel like sitting down or going to do something for an hour at home, you can get sidetracked or called to do something.

‘If you’re out and about in the fresh air, it’s something completely different and good for you mentally.’

Arguably, this support couldn’t have come at a better time as data from the 2021 Census showed the number of people delivering unpaid care has massively increased since the last time the survey was conducted. In 2011 the proportion of people who provided 20-49 hours of unpaid care per week stood at 1.5% and this jumped to 1.9% in 2021. According to the Census, there are around 2.5 million unpaid carers in employment in England and Wales. However, this figure excludes full-time students so it is speculated that the number could be even higher.

Councillor Sheila Little, cabinet member for adult social care, said: ‘We have some excellent services in West Cheshire that support unpaid carers and having a carers charter that all organisations can sign up to aims to build on this.

‘It’s important all unpaid carers have the same opportunities as anyone else in the community and can help shape the services they receive.

‘While organisations that currently support unpaid carers might be particularly interested in the Carers Charter, we’re encouraging all organisations to sign up.’

On the topic of excellent services, the council previously published their All Age Carers Strategy for 2021-26 which outlines further plans to support these particular individuals.

Five key elements of the strategy include:

• Identifying carers early, particularly hidden carers, by communicating the benefits of carer assessments and highlighting carers’ rights.
• Access to information and advice, making sure carers are well informed about the resources and support available to them.
• Health and wellbeing support, providing services that help carers maintain their physical and mental health.
• Breaks and respite care, offering opportunities for carers to take much-needed breaks from their responsibilities.
• Financial support, assisting carers with accessing financial benefits and support.

Image: Dominik Lange

More on unpaid carers:

LISTEN: A lack of unpaid carers will cause ‘the system to collapse’

Shortage of health and care services damaging unpaid carers’ health