Making Carers Count - Adult carers from under-represented groups 

Projects supporting ethnic minority carers

Camden Carers

Camden Carers has been delivering services to unpaid carers 18 and above for over 25 years. We offer information, support, respite and advice to all unpaid carers living or working in Camden. Through the Making Carers Count project we will be working with carers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The project will be delivered by a Community Engagement Project Manager and a Community Engagement Support worker, who together will aim to ‘Engage and empower under-represented communities by developing and delivering services in a way that is relevant to them.

Camden Carers will work with various under-represented organisations and unpaid carers to maximise the effectiveness of communications in the borough by listening to communities, gathering feedback to inform service delivery and demonstrate how this work will contribute and influence decision making.

Carers First

Carers First works directly with and for unpaid carers to provide personalised information and support; making it easier for those caring for someone else to live their lives to the fullest. We currently serve carers across eight areas in the South-East, London, East Midlands and East of England. We reach over 100,000 carers through community work, online and social media and provide one-to-one and group support to 15,000 carers.

Making Carers Count funding will increase our organisational capacity and resources to identify and support Turkish and Kurdish carers living in Haringey and Hackney. This under-represented community of carers will have timely access to a dedicated worker who understands their evolving needs and can provide ongoing, trusting, person-centred support before they reach crisis. Working in partnership they will help deliver positive, wellbeing interventions including day trips, wellbeing activities, drop-in surgeries, outreach sessions and access to dedicated benefits advice.

Carers Support West Sussex

The Sussex Carers Partnership, a collective of three Network Partners, have worked together for many years on a number of pan-Sussex activities. Collectively we have over 40,000 carers registered with us and provide a range of services and support for carers. We recently delivered a successful engagement project looking at carers experiences of healthcare during the pandemic.

Three part time Carer Engagement Workers will deliver the project, overseen by Carers Support West Sussex as lead partner. Our activities aim to overcome the identified barriers for under-represented carer groups focussing on carers from ethnic minorities. Our activities are based on what carers have told will work for them, such as:

• Creating a new Sussex Carers Reference group
• Training carers and other carers organisations
• Resource identification and increased engagement with current services
• Adapting resources
• Translation and interpretation
• Casework
• Extend our pilot counselling service.

Carers Trust Heart of England

Carers Trust Heart of England’s aim is to support carers and those they care for by providing the highest possible quality, individually tailored care support service that improves the lives of carers, the people they care for and their families.

We provide integrated services across Coventry and Warwickshire that place the needs of the carer and the people they care for at the heart of everything we do. Through the lockdowns we saw carers struggling with loneliness and isolation. We also identified a need to support those carers unable to access technology and devised a blended approach of online and face-to-face activities and support. We support carer resilience, reduced social isolation and increased awareness of the support available.

Through Making Carers Count, we will work to learn from, reach and support more ethnic minority carers by building direct links with local community leaders and establishing dedicated carer groups.

Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire

Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire is a local charity working to support unpaid family carers in Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield and Leeds with over 35 years’ experience working in the local community.

Our Making Carers Count project aims to increase the number of unpaid carers who identify as being of Pakistani heritage who are supported by Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire in Kirklees.

New collaborations with Pakistani communities will develop our understanding of the barriers faced by this under-represented group of unpaid carers. We will extend our engagement methods and aim to reduce barriers to assessing information, advice, support and services; including drop in information events and carer support groups in the community, and specifically designed information materials.

A Pakistani community-based steering group will aim to enhance how carer support is delivered by Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire and this will be shared with stakeholders at an end of project Conference.

Crossroads Caring for Carers (Black Country & Birmingham)

Crossroads Caring for Carers provides a wide range of community care services across The West Midlands. We offer flexible and tailored personal care at home packages, as well as helping informal carers to care for longer by providing practical support, training, respite, palliative care and specialist dementia services - improving the health and wellbeing of carers and those they care for.

Through the Making Carers Count project, we aim to break down a range of barriers and challenges faced by informal carers from under-represented ethnic minority groups from Birmingham and the Black Country. We will provide an opportunity to access a targeted and specialist service which will offer culturally appropriate information, advice, guidance and support to address complex and interconnected needs.

Newcastle Carers

Newcastle Carers provides information, advice and support to carers of all ages in Newcastle upon Tyne. We have over 6,000 carers registered with us, and a track record of working in collaboration with a range of organisations and services to identify and support carers in communities of most need.

Newcastle is a City of Sanctuary, with increasing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees from a range of countries. Dedicated resources and a development worker will enable us to build trusted relationships with asylum seeker and refugee communities, identify barriers and co-design carer support in their communities. We will then develop and evaluate tailored provision that not only benefits individual carers, but provides us with increased understanding and valuable learning. We aim to share this with other services and therefore improve the accessibility and quality of support for carers in asylum seeker and refugee communities in the future.

Northamptonshire Carers

Northamptonshire Carers provide services and support to carers and cared-for people in Northamptonshire including a Carers Support Line, Young Carers and Young Adult Carers Service, Statutory Carers Assessment, Support Groups, activities, training and peer support, specialist dementia services and Social Prescribing.

Our Project aims to deliver the following to reach and support ethnic minority carers

• Link with ethnic minority organisations and communities to raise awareness of carers and create referral pathways
• Involve ethnic minority carers in focus groups and Carers Partnership meetings
• Organise events to hear ethnic minority carers voices
• Plan and work in partnership to source funding for future services and support
• Workforce development within Northamptonshire Carers, increasing diversity by reviewing recruitment
• processes and implementing Safe Space groups
• Provide training to Northamptonshire Carers staff team and other organisations

Swindon Carers Centre

Swindon Carers Centre aims to improve the well-being of unpaid carers in Swindon, creating a community where carers are recognised, valued and supported. We do this through one-to-one tailored support, running activities and groups, and giving benefits advice. We also work with schools and companies to raise awareness. Through the Making Carers Count project we aim to broaden our reach to carers in ethnic minority communities – especially those in the Asian community. We have focused on the Asian community because there is a large Asian community in Swindon but they are under-represented in the carers we currently reach. We plan to achieve this through local level community engagement and building our organisational capacity to be more inclusive of ethnic minority groups.

Projects supporting LGBTQ+ carers

Crossroads Together

Crossroads Together is a charity with a mission to ensure unpaid carers of all ages, and the people they care for, can access emotional and practical support needed to maintain their own health and wellbeing.

Our 270-trained professionals offer services across Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Shropshire and Herefordshire, supporting over 5000 carers and people with care needs every year.

CarerLinks+ is our new service providing support to unpaid adult carers from the LGBTQ+ community. This innovative project will focus on understanding the barriers that people in this under represented group face and work collectively to improve awareness, understanding and access to services.

Carer Advisors will provide 1:1 support for carers to support them with their own wellbeing and a calendar of peer support groups, activities and events will provide opportunities for carers to meet others who have a genuine understanding of their situation.

Lanarkshire Carers Centre Ltd

Lanarkshire Carers is a carer led organisation with over 25 years of experience developing and delivering information, advice and support services for carers. We are experienced at reaching under-represented communities and have a diverse Board of Governors, staff team and volunteers, many of whom are carers themselves.

Making Carers Count will enable learning, development and continual improvement of our approach to under-represented carers as a whole and inform positive changes to practice, communication and service offer. Carers tell us that tailored, flexible and responsive services are effective with targeted groups. We want to better understand and improve our work with LBGTQ+ carers to allow this approach to be adopted. By enabling and encouraging early identification, engagement and appropriate support for LGBTQ+ carers, we can prevent carers from reaching crisis point, minimising risk to health, wellbeing and impacts on quality of life.

Wandsworth Carers' Centre

Wandsworth Carers’ Centre has been operating in Southwest London since 1995 working with and for carers. We offer a wide range of services including specialist support for carers of people with mental health problems, dementia, learning disability, neurological conditions, autistic spectrum disorder and Asian carers. We also offer advice, information & advocacy, counselling, massage and back care and access to respite.  

Our new LGBT+ Carers Connect project sees us working in partnership with Carers Centres in Richmond, Camden, Redbridge, Sutton, and City and Hackney to improve the service that LGBT+ carers receive across London. The project offers LGBT+ awareness training to frontline staff in carers agencies and carer awareness training to LGBT+ support agencies.

It also offers advocacy support for carers experiencing discrimination, and social groups and opportunities for carers to have a break with trips out and LGBT+ specific events. The project will also raise awareness of LGBT+ carers’ rights, issues and barriers faced through social media campaigns, health and social care training, and digital training toolkits to enable services to be inclusive for LGBT+ Carers. 

Projects supporting male carers

Carers Resource

Carers’ Resource has 26 years’ experience of providing information, advice and support to carers.  Our Making Carers Count project will support carers through:

•  Improved engagement with male carers – an increase in the number of male carers engaged with
• Better identification and support given to male carers
• Health and Social Care professionals having increased understanding and ability to support male carers
• A range of specially focused male information resources
• A range of support group activities that are available for male carers
• Male carers reporting that services are fit for them/meet their needs
• Male carers reporting better quality of life, less isolation and less carer breakdown
• A team of volunteers that will support the sustainability of this project beyond its initial funding.

Perth & Kinross Association of Voluntary Service

PKAVS is a dynamic local charity with a Big Heart – from carers young and old, to adults recovering from mental ill-health, minority communities, volunteers, and voluntary groups – we work tirelessly throughout Perth and Kinross to improve wellbeing, connect communities, and help people to realise their potential.

The Making Carers Count funding will be used by PKAVS carers hub to recruit a staff member whose main remit will be to raise awareness of and create a bank of appropriate support services for unpaid male carers living in Perth & Kinross. At present less than 30% of unpaid carers registered at PKAVS are male and so we have identified this as an area we need to place more focus on so more male carers are identified and offered the support they deserve.

Projects supporting working carers

Crossroads Care Gloucestershire

For over 30 years, Crossroads Care Gloucestershire has provided unpaid carers across the county, with support services to enable them to take a break from their caring role. We do this by providing a highly trained staff that can share the challenge of caring for loved ones with physical or mental health needs at home.

We believe that, locally, more must be done to support working carers and so we are very excited to receive funding from Carers Trust that will enable us to fund a full time project worker to work with larger employers to deliver support for working carers. The project aims to help working carers to feel more supported, less stressed and less anxious about caring for their loved one and improve family life and relationships.

Projects supporting parent carers of children with disabilities and additional needs

Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust

Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust was established in 1994 to offer information, advice and support for carers. We offer a range of services across our area with the view to improving carers' lives. We are the lead provider of the Cheshire West Carers Support Service, working with five specialist providers to deliver a single point of access for all adult carers, offering one to one appointments, groups, funding, training and wellbeing sessions. We also offer dedicated support for working carers and work with Primary Care to identify and support carers through GP practices.

Our Making Carers Count project will work to support parent carers of children with disabilities and additional needs, offering mutual support, assistance with benefits, training sessions and social activities. The service will be based on a principal of co-production with parent carers, promoting needs and rights within schools and health and social care organisations.

Projects supporting carers supporting those with problematic substance use

Blackpool Carers Centre

Established in 2005, Blackpool Carers Centre exists to make a better life for carers in Blackpool. We work with carers from the age of 5 offering a range of tailored support including family support, one to one support, respite opportunities, benefit advice and linked partnership working with local agencies.

Through the Making Carers Count project we aim to support carers affected by a loved one's problematic substance use, providing them with information around substances, addiction and recovery, time and space to discuss the impact of their caring role and opportunities for respite and peer support.