Who we are
Carers Trust works to transform the lives of unpaid carers. We are the only UK-wide infrastructure organisation supporting local carer organisations. We partner with our network of local carer organisations to provide funding and support, deliver innovative and evidence-based programmes, and raise awareness and influence policy. Our vision is that unpaid carers are heard and valued, with access to support, advice and resources to enable them to live fulfilled lives.
Introduction from our President HRH The Princess Royal
Over the past year, the cost-of-living crisis has continued to make life extremely difficult for many people. As President of Carers Trust, I have seen first-hand the alarming impact it is having on unpaid carers, many of whom were already experiencing severe financial hardship because they had had to give up work to carry on caring for a family member.
This is why it has been so important this year to mark 50 years since the establishment of the first local carer organisation in the UK. The result was the Crossroads Care scheme which, along with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, worked to develop a network of local carer organisations. As the need for a UK-wide network of local carer services became ever more obvious, the two charities merged in 2012 to form Carers Trust. The merger represented a key milestone in the building of such a network.
As part of marking this year’s 50th anniversary, I was pleased to attend a supporter reception in London in June. I was delighted to be able to personally thank the trusts, foundations, corporate partners and philanthropists that have enabled Carers Trust to keep delivering essential support for unpaid carers and local carer organisations.
In my visits to local carer services within the Carers Trust network, including Bridgend and Gloucestershire this year, I have seen the invaluable support and collective impact that Carers Trust and its network of local partner organisations continue to deliver right across the UK.
I am particularly pleased that The Princess Royal Respite Fund for Carers continues to enable Carers Trust to provide local carer organisations with funding to support unpaid carers to access much-needed respite and breaks. The Fund is successfully achieving its two main outcomes: reducing isolation and increasing resilience and optimism around life balance for unpaid carers.
I do hope you will choose to support Carers Trust in our endeavours to continue to expand our network and improve the lives of more and more unpaid carers.
Introduction from our CEO Kirsty McHugh
Few groups in society have been as exposed to the uncertainty caused by soaring food and energy prices as unpaid family carers, millions of whom have had to give up or reduce paid work to care for sick and disabled relatives.
The need for Carers Trust and our network of 126 local carer centres has therefore never been greater. Collectively we reach over 1 million unpaid carers and cover 85% of all local authority areas. We have reach and we have scale, but there is also growing need, with census figures showing unpaid carers are supporting more people with more complex needs and for more hours every week. At the same time, social care is in crisis, with fewer family carers receiving the support they need from statutory authorities.
We are a network with momentum and with ambition, but we cannot deliver our mission alone. We are therefore forging broader and deeper strategic partnerships than ever before.
There are many highlights to choose from this year. Our work with young carers and young adult carers has gathered momentum, with the Young Carers Alliance of England and Wales now hosted by Carers Trust (mirroring the existing network in Scotland). This sees us supporting a much broader array of organisations and individuals working to transform the life chances of young people with a caring role.
Our work with adult carers has also matured and deepened. Our UK-wide Making Carers Count programme has extended our reach into under-represented communities, including unpaid carers from minoritised ethnic communities and LGBTQ+ groups. Meanwhile, our Triangle of Care programme is working with over 40 NHS mental health trusts, helping them to support carers of people with mental health conditions.
We are also proud of our work in the nations. We were pleased to be the Welsh Government’s chosen partner to manage the multi-million pound Short Breaks Scheme and Carers Support Fund, both of which are delivering much needed support to unpaid carers in Wales. I am also pleased that our work in Scotland has gone from strength to strength. We have been a driving force behind the new National Carer Strategy, published important new research into the experiences of older adult unpaid carers and helped our network of local carer organisations deliver much needed services to young carers.
With the cost-of-living crisis hurting many, grant-making remains an important part of our operation. We distributed £3,820,380 last year to unpaid carers to pay for basic necessities that would otherwise be unaffordable or to enable a much-needed break.
I finish with a huge thank you to our network of local carer organisations, many of which are struggling with how to meet ever-increasing demand at a time of insufficient public sector resources and much greater competition for funds. I take my hat off to each of them. My thanks also go to our loyal and growing network of supporters. The need is urgent and the support you give us helps to make a huge difference to many lives.
Our Impact in Numbers Our Impact in Numbers
£3,820,380
awarded in grants across the UK to support 16,849 unpaid carers
45,039
young carers and young adult carers were directly supported across the UK
£519,023
was awarded in grants directly to 2,370 unpaid carers
Grants for unpaid carers included:
1,349
towards essential household equipment
636
for short breaks
103
to support employment and education aspirations
This year is the first in which Carers Trust is reporting against its refreshed strategy, ‘Building a Caring Society’. We are delighted to share the progress we have made against each of our four strategic pillars: Partner for Growth, Evidence for Impact, Influence for Change and Innovate to Transform.
Partner for Growth
Our impact for unpaid carers can only be as great as the power of our network of local carer organisations. These partnerships will continue to be at the heart of our approach, with the scale of our ambition necessitating an increase in their breadth and depth.
We have made excellent progress against this strategic pillar. We have: enhanced the quality of our membership offer; acquired the Young Carers Alliance; and refreshed Triangle of Care, a network of mental health trusts incorporating leading practices on unpaid carers into their work.
Our Impact in Numbers Our Impact in Numbers
1 million+
unpaid carers are now registered with Carers Trust’s Network Partners
9.8 - 11.4%
we have seen an increase from 9.8% to 11.4% in the proportion of unpaid carers under 18 we are supporting
86%
of unpaid carers say their Carers Trust Network Partner has improved their quality of life
Welcoming the Young Carers Alliance
The Young Carers Alliance is a growing network of organisations, individuals and professionals committed to improving outcomes and support for young and young adult carers.
Since the hosting of the Young Carers Alliance transferred to Carers Trust in January 2023, membership has increased to over 175 organisations and more than 400 individuals.
We run a regular programme of webinars on topics ranging from young carers from under-represented backgrounds, to focusing on the needs of the whole family.
We are also developing the first ever Covenant for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers. The covenant will form a commitment to the outcomes we want to see for every young carer and young adult carer in the UK.
Promoting safety and wellbeing in health settings: the Triangle of Care
The Triangle of Care is a therapeutic alliance within health settings between patients/people who use services, staff members and unpaid carers. It promotes safety, supports recovery and sustains wellbeing.
Carers Trust relaunched the Triangle of Care and recruited a dedicated lead to take the programme forward using a sustainable fees-based model. 74% of the NHS Mental Health Trusts in England are Triangle of Care accredited and are implementing leading practice in identifying, supporting, informing and listening to unpaid carers as equal and expert partners in care. In 2023-24 and beyond we will be working towards 100% coverage of NHS Mental Health Trusts and expanding to new markets.
Health and Wellbeing Alliance
Over the past year, as part of our membership of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, we have:
- Published a report on carer breaks, including resources that will help commissioners and providers meet the needs of unpaid carers in their area.
- Ensured unpaid carers were embedded in the statutory guidance for Virtual Wards.
- Provided an information sheet for local carer organisations on social prescribing.
Through the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, Carers Trust also engaged with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on important policy developments such as the ‘Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care’ paper, Care Workforce Pathway, and Care Data Matters.
Hospital discharge toolkit
Carers Trust worked in partnership with NHS England, Mobilise, Carers UK, Carers First and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) in London to co-produce a “Carers and Hospital Discharge Toolkit for London Hospitals and Community Providers”.
The toolkit was developed to help healthcare professionals navigate through unpaid carers’ hospital discharge pathway. It will help hospitals work with carers and carer organisations to ensure a safe, smooth and successful discharge process whilst ensuring patients and carers are properly supported.
This project forms part of the NHS Long-Term Plan deliverables and is a good example of London-wide collaboration and coproduction with partners. It can be used by any hospital across the country that recognises the importance of identifying, including, and supporting unpaid carers in the discharge process.
Enhancing our Membership Value Proposition
Carers Trust is the only UK-wide infrastructure organisation for local carer organisations. It is therefore essential that Carers Trust’s network membership offer for Network Partners continues to meet the needs of local partners and unpaid carers, as we move towards achieving our 2022-25 strategic ambitions.
In FY22/23 this project to enhance the partnership value of network membership has involved over 20 different Network Partners across the nations in our ‘network conversation’ series. Additional conversations are taking place at every regional and national Carer Hub to listen to key feedback and priorities.
Building a high-quality network: Excellence for Carers award
The needs of unpaid carers are central to the work of our charity. That’s why we are committed to ensuring quality services to carers through our network of local carer organisations. This is done in several ways, including through our Excellence for Carers Quality award.
Excellence for Carers assesses our Network Partners against standards to help ensure their services are high-quality, inclusive and genuinely meet carers’ needs. 85% of unpaid carers rate our Network Partners as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ - an encouraging number but one that we are always striving to increase.
Over the past year, more Network Partners have demonstrated consistent delivery of high-quality services for carers and have achieved the Excellence for Carers award. The award itself is just the start of the organisation’s quality journey – Excellence for Carers helps to build a partnership approach to continual improvement.
Evidence for Impact
We work alongside our network of local carer organisations across a wide range of services and programmes aimed at alleviating hardship and supporting unpaid carers. This experience gives us a rich body of evidence from which we identify practices most likely to mitigate and reduce inequalities arising from caregiving.
We have seen many achievements under this theme, including our Making Carers Count programme – supporting, for example, unpaid carers from minoritised ethnic communities and LGBTQ+ groups who are under-represented in accessing services and support – and the launch of our Short Breaks Scheme in partnership with the Welsh Government, worth £9m between 2022-2025.
Our Impact in Numbers Our Impact in Numbers
67%
of unpaid carers have seen an improvement in their wellbeing due to our network’s support
57%
of unpaid carers have seen an improvement in their resilience due to our network’s support
81%
of young carers and young adult carers have seen an improvement in their employability due to our network’s support
Scottish Young Carers Festival
Our annual Scottish Young Carers Festival in Fordell Firs provides a chance for young carers to have a break from caring, meet other young carers, share their thoughts and, most importantly, have fun.
400 young carers from 34 local carer services across Scotland attended last year’s festival. They took part in a range of activities, from inflatables, festival make-up, live bands to magic! Young carers shared their experiences and views in our Consultation Zone – where we welcomed 17 guests including two Scottish Government Cabinet Ministers to engage directly with young carers.
99% of young carers said they had the opportunity to have fun at the festival and 96% said they had had a break from their caring responsibilities.
In 2023, we welcomed 500 young carers to our event to have fun, take a break and share their views.
Supporting underrepresented carers: Making Carers Count
Making Carers Count (MCC) is identifying and supporting unpaid carers who are underrepresented amongst the community groups we currently reach. Working with 27 local programme partners, MCC has already supported over 8,696 unpaid carers to access these new services.
The programme is creating new wider and vital collaborations, extending engagement methods, increasing learning, and enhancing how support is delivered to unpaid carers from these groups. Over the past year Carers Trust has delivered a series of capacity-building sessions for our Network Partners participating in MCC, on themes such as monitoring and evaluation, case studies and inclusive recruitment and retention. 76% of attendees agreed that their knowledge had increased as a result of the sessions.
Supporting unpaid carers like Cecilia through LGBTQ+ support groups
Set up through funding from our Making Carers Count programme, Wandsworth Carers Centre runs a group for LGBTQ+ unpaid carers which provides much-needed support for people who don’t often seek help from carer organisations.
It’s estimated that one in ten people identifying as LGBTQ+ is an unpaid carer. However, these numbers are not reflected in the data showing who accesses support services for carers.
Cecilia, 54, who moved in with her mother Maria five years ago to become her full-time carer, is one of the people who attends the support group. It took around two years for Cecilia to discover Wandsworth Carers Centre, which she now describes as being her “angels”. The LGBTQ+ support group allows her a safe space to discuss the impact of caring on herself. Cecilia likened the group to the instinctive understanding you get from a lifelong best friend.
“The group has been fantastic… I can’t tell you the difference it’s made to me, I can’t qualify it or quantify it… Each of the people I’ve spoken to has shocked me by going above and beyond. That’s why I call them angels. I don’t quite know how they do it.”
A spokesperson for Wandsworth Carers Centre said: “Sometimes, assumptions are made about who a carer is or who they are caring for. Often, the significance of relationships with chosen family members is also misunderstood. Some LGBTQ+ carers feel comfortable to join general support groups whereas others appreciate having an LGBTQ+ specific space. Being able to offer both options to carers has been very important to us.” Learn more about the support group in our news story
Supporting young people to fulfil their potential alongside caring: Young Carers Futures
Over the past year we have worked alongside key employers who have offered bespoke support to young adult carers, unlocking their potential and widening their access to employment opportunities.
We have enabled young carers and young adult carers to attend employability workshops, visit workplaces and meet with employers from across sectors.
Our partnership with the Civil Service has seen six young adult carers offered jobs through their dedicated Going Forward into Employment scheme.
Since the start of the Young Carers Future programme (September 2021) we are delighted to have: delivered 78 exciting career-focused activities in partnership with employers; helped 280 young adult carers access employability workshops; filled 17 paid young adult carer intern roles at Carers Trust; and supported 36 young adult carers into employment with our partner organisations.
Supporting carers to move closer to employment: Working for Carers
This year saw the final delivery of our flagship Working for Carers programme (started in January 2017), which supports unpaid carers and former carers to move closer to employment. The programme supported 1,266 unpaid carers and former carers from all 33 London boroughs and was funded by The European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund.
- Over 82% of carers were not in employment or actively job-searching when they registered. Most had been out of work for several years.
- 65% were from a minoritised ethnic background, 45% were over 50.
- 72% had sustained employment for 26 weeks after exiting the project.
- 59% accessed training and 22% were supported to move into employment (beating the funder’s target of 20%).
The project was a great success, and was shortlisted for the ERSA (Employment-Related Services Association) Community Partnership of the Year award.
Supporting unpaid carers with their financial resilience: Carers Support Fund
This year we mobilised the new Carers Support Fund, a three-year Welsh Government partnership programme working with local carer organisations and other delivery partners across Wales to support unpaid carers who are experiencing financial hardship due to the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing impact of the pandemic.
In awarding £903,900 in its first year, Carers Support Fund supported 6,033 unpaid carers across Wales with purchasing essential household items, food, alongside support accessing benefits and development of money management skills, improving their financial resilience. 85% of carers agreed that their quality of life had increased and 82% felt that some financial burden had been reduced.
Short Breaks Scheme Wales
Responding to our thought leadership paper on short breaks for carers, the Welsh Government appointed Carers Trust Wales to be the National Coordinating Body for the Welsh Government’s first ever Short Breaks Scheme, worth £9m between 2022-2025.
The Short Breaks Scheme aims to reach more than 30,000 unpaid carers, enabling them to sustain a life alongside caring. We are achieving this through our Amser (Amser is Welsh for ‘time’) programme which opened in January 2023. The programme called for funding bids from third sector organisations. The organisations whose bids were successful are in the process of distributing funding in the form of short break opportunities to unpaid carers. We will distribute £1.9 million worth of grants in this way throughout 2023-24, thereby creating flexible, personalised and funded short breaks to unpaid carers across Wales.
Social Return on Investment (SROI) project
In January 2023 we launched our Social Return on Investment (SROI) calculator, based on extensive research with unpaid carers, cared-for individuals, Carers Trust staff and other key stakeholders.
We worked in partnership with Civil Society Consulting to design and develop this calculator, which is the first of its kind. It enables regulated and non-regulated carer organisations to articulate the social value of their work.
The tool is used by local carers centres in our network to generate robust evidence to be used in conversations with commissioners and funders. Our network represents the wider health and social care system by providing crucial support to carers. Next year we will share insights of our network’s collective SROI, that will help build a case for change.
Delivering impact through our research work in Wales
We wanted to listen to and further understand experiences of unpaid carers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in Wales to raise awareness and highlight solutions to specific challenges. We produced a research report on the findings to influence decision-makers, and organised a successful Roundtable event which brought together stakeholders from local authorities, community organisations and unpaid carers from different communities. From this, a working group has been established to start making collective progress regarding the recommendations.
As part of a team led by Cardiff University, Carers Trust co-created a physical activity resource for carers of people with Huntington’s disease (HD), who often struggle with sustaining physical activity. Following a workshop with unpaid carers, the team co-designed a protype resource, which was then evaluated, with adaptations made accordingly. The resource will soon be made available, with Carers Trust using the findings to learn how best to support carers of those with long-term health conditions.
Influence for Change
Unpaid carers in the UK have told us they feel ignored by successive governments, while local carer organisations are working in highly challenging operating environments. This is why we are so committed to speaking truth to power and engaging with key decision-makers to bring about the changes needed.
This past financial year has seen our most active Young Carers Action Day yet, the launch of our new carer involvement work, and the creation of an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers. Many other activities highlight our commitment to influencing for change.
Our Impact in Numbers Our Impact in Numbers
150+
decision-makers engaged with over the past year
2,800+
media mentions over the past year
5,700+
unpaid carers involved in amplifying our mission UK-wide
Young Carers Action Day (YCAD) 2023
On our busiest Young Carers Action Day yet, we published our annual survey report, and organised many events with decision-makers to improve awareness of, and support for, young carers.
Young carers from across England presented our open letter to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. This letter, signed by over 80 organisations and 300 individuals, called on the Government to improve support for young and young adult carers.
We asked MPs and Members of the House of Lords to sign a pledge for young carers and young adult carers. More than 50 MPs from a range of political parties have pledged their support so far. We also arranged for the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, to visit a school with Network Partner, Enfield Carers, to meet young carers and hear their experiences.
Carer involvement work
As a strategic priority, we are committed to transforming carer involvement and participation at Carers Trust, putting the authentic carer voice at the heart of our advocacy work and everything we do. We have launched our new Carer Involvement Web Pages, where carers can find opportunities to get involved across all our work, from research and influencing to communications and advising Trustees.
We have launched our Youth Advisory Panel, giving young and young adult carers a direct link to our Board of Trustees and ensuring representation from across the UK.
We also have lots of exciting projects planned for 2023 and 2024: our new Carer Involvement Reference Group; young carers participating in planning and delivering Young Carers Action Day; and the development of the first Covenant for Young and Young Adult Carers.
House of Lords Adult Social Care Committee
In May 2022, we gave written and oral evidence to the House of Lords Adults Social Care Committee Inquiry into what needs to change to create a fair, resilient and sustainable care system. Our evidence focused on recognising unpaid carers as equal and expert partners in care across all clinical and social care pathways, with the Triangle of Care as a key quality improvement programme to achieve this.
The Committee’s report, ‘A Gloriously Ordinary Life’ included a recommendation that unpaid carers should receive more support from health and social care professionals to identify them, signpost support, and ensure they get it.
All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers
Through the APPG for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers, we organised a parliamentary reception on Young Carers Action Day which was attended by the Minister for Social Care, Helen Whately and the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, Helen Hayes.
The first formal meeting of the APPG took place online in January 2023, and was attended by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza. She provided an overview of insights from young carers who took part in The Big Ask, a consultation with over 500,000 children, and also the views of young carers from her Office’s work on school attendance and support for families. Dame Rachel also heard from young carers and young adult carers from across England about the challenges they face.
Influencing in Scotland
Carers Trust Scotland’s call for a new national strategy for unpaid carers was answered in December 2022 when the Scottish Government published its National Carers Strategy – a three-year strategy focused on several key themes, including: Health and Social Care Support, and Social and Financial Inclusion.
In March 2023, the Scottish Government published The Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) Draft Regulations. Carer Support Payment – replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland – is due to launch in Spring 2024 and will extend eligibility for the benefit. This includes removing the 21-hour/full-time study rule for most student carers. Carers Trust Scotland has campaigned to have this rule removed for several years.
Scottish Government has also introduced the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, which includes a proposed Right to Breaks for unpaid carers, a right that Carers Trust Scotland has been calling for in its research recommendations and through its influencing work.
Influencing in Wales
Carers Trust Wales has facilitated three opportunities for young carers to connect with Welsh Government Ministers – including one on Young Carers Action Day. It also held a Senedd reception where young carers supported by the Network could engage with all Members of the Senedd.
In joint sessions with the Welsh Youth Parliament and the Senedd, young carers have represented Carers Trust and spoken about their experiences. They urged Members of the Senedd to act on Welsh Youth Parliament recommendations, for example around improved mental health support.
Our engagement work, on behalf of the Welsh Government, has enabled us to engage directly with 123 adult unpaid carers and 115 young carers, with their views fed back directly to the Ministerial Advisory Group for Carers.
Experiences of Older Adult Unpaid Carers in Scotland
In March 2023, Carers Trust Scotland published its ‘Experiences of Older Adult Unpaid Carers in Scotland’ research, focused on unpaid carers aged 65 and over. It also hosted a launch event to publicise the findings.
Following on from recommendations in the report, we are undertaking a national campaign to champion the extension of Carer Support Payment (currently Carer’s Allowance). An alternative is to introduce a specific recognition payment for older adult unpaid carers when they are no longer eligible for Carer Support Payment due to being in receipt of a State Pension.
The findings from the report received good media coverage and were picked up by ITV News which highlighted them on its main evening news programme.
UCAS
Following a campaign by a young adult carer and supported by Carers Trust, for the first time this year, students applying for university can declare that they are an unpaid carer on the UCAS application form.
Carers Trust and a young adult carer, Holly, worked with UCAS to produce a follow-up questionnaire for every applicant who identified as an unpaid carer to help learn more about what support they had received, and the support they might need at university.
In Autumn 2023 UCAS will produce a report on the findings of this questionnaire. Carers Trust is closely collaborating on the report.
Photo credit: Jack Evans
Becoming an anti-racist organisation
Over the past year, staff and trustees at Carers Trust have received anti-racism training and have been collaborating to create our first Anti-Racism Roadmap.
The roadmap articulates a new vision:
“We strive to empower every unpaid carer and ensure all care support services provide equitable, inclusive, and dignified support; we do this by working in solidarity with our partners and our communities, to challenge all forms of racism and racist practice, prejudice, and discrimination wherever and whenever they arise.”
All staff are building anti-racism into their personal objectives and over the next year we will be tracking progress against new key performance indicators.
Innovate to Transform
Over time, the pace of technology – the shift to online living and support, the consequent demands around skills and resources – is changing. This rapid pace of change poses a challenge and an opportunity, not only for unpaid carers but also for local carer organisations.
Our key focus this year has been investing in tools and technology that will enable the Carers Trust network to support carers in different ways, as well as better articulate their social value and business case.
Our Impact in Numbers Our Impact in Numbers
1
Virtual Carers Centre in development
£150,000
of charitable reserves invested in innovation projects
Virtual Carers Centre
Systematising high-quality digital models for carer support services is a key challenge for our network. 86% of Network Partners surveyed in May-June 2022 currently provide some form of digital support to carers, 77% are willing to engage with us to create a Virtual Carers Centre (VCC), and 88% are interested in being provided with additional digital services by us.
We commissioned a digital agency to implement a Discovery Phase for our proposed VCC and will be developing the Minimum Viable Product for launch in October 2023. The VCC is a local digital solution delivered at national scale and will bring numerous benefits for carers and carer organisations, from identifying and supporting new and existing carers to equalising support for carers in rural areas.
We have invested £150,000 into innovative projects like the VCC over the past year, highlighting our commitment to innovation. But we have more to do.
The Year Ahead
The strength of Carers Trust is built on the foundations of all the individuals who make up our 126 Network Partners and colleagues. With their continued commitment, we are able to keep supporting and making a difference to the lives of unpaid carers.
Moving forward into the next financial year, one of our key focuses will be to develop a broader range of evidence-based and evidence-generating programmes which deliver for unpaid carers and local carer organisations.
The year ahead
The year ahead will be another busy year for Carers Trust. With continued economic pressures and the exclusion of unpaid carers from additional government support, we are determined to continue delivering our programmes, services, policy work and research to achieve results for unpaid carers and local carer organisations.
Amongst a range of exciting upcoming activities, we have started work on developing the first ever Covenant for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers. This represents a commitment to the outcomes we want to see for every young carer in the UK. We’ll soon be launching our Carer Involvement Reference Group, enabling young carers to directly participate in planning and delivering the next Young Carers Action Day and annual Young and Young Adult Carer Survey.
Our Triangle of Care programme will be looking to achieve 100% coverage in terms of partnerships with NHS Mental Health Trusts. We will welcome over 500 young carers to our Scottish Young Carers Festival, and we’ll see the next phases of our three-year multi-million pound Welsh Government partnerships. These are the Short Breaks Scheme and the Carers Support Fund, both of which continue to provide invaluable support for thousands of unpaid carers.
We will also be launching the Carers Trust network Virtual Carers Centre, a local digital solution for carer organisations, delivered nationally, with the economies of scale that only an infrastructure organisation can bring.
Thank you, as ever, for your continued support. Without it, Carers Trust could not keep improving the lives of unpaid carers through activities such as these.
Financial Review
A summary of how we raised and used our funds over the past financial year.
How we raised our funds How we raised our funds
| Total raised | £8,800,000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | £4,674,080 | (53.1%) | |
| Government grants | £2,756,789 | (31.3%) | |
| Legacies | £738,429 | (8.4%) | |
| Membership fees and other income | £630,703 | (7.2%) |
How we used our funds How we used our funds
| Total used | £9,252,343 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Costs of generating donations and legacies | £1,010,177 | (10%) | |
| Supporting the development of solutions for carers | £4,865,484 | (32%) | |
| Influencing and awareness raising | £1,358,839 | (7%) | |
| Working with our network to develop transformational programmes | £2,017,843 | (51%) |
We care about spending your gifts carefully We care about spending your gifts carefully
For every £1 you give, we ensure that:
89p is spent directly on charitable activities
11p is spent on raising money to keep unpaid carers at the forefront of peoples minds
And for every £1 we spend raising money:
We raise £8.09
By spending money on fundraising we generate even more money for unpaid carers.
Our overhead costs, excluding costs relating to raising funds, represent 13.3% of total costs.
Thank you toOur Supporters
Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past twelve months, from our individual donors right through to our corporate supporters and philanthropic organisations. We simply could not have achieved our successes without you.
With your continued generosity, we are able to keep supporting and making a difference to the lives of unpaid carers.
Corporate Supporters
- Bloom & Wild
- Cadent Gas
- Markel UK Ltd
- National Garden Scheme
- Next Plc
- NRS Healthcare
- The Quilter Foundation
- Rank Group PLC
Individual Supporters and major donors
- Andrew Crompton and John Mills (Manchester to Melbourne Cycle for Carers)
- China Chamber of Commerce in the UK (CCCUK)
- David and Linda Fish
- Mr Andrew Robertson CBE
- Dr. John Lowrie Morrison, OBE and Maureen Morrison
- Mary Bishop
- Mrs Kathrine Tollis in memory of Bruce Tollis
- Mr Richard Burns
- Pears Foundation, The
- Peter and Jan Winslow
- Scarborough Group Foundation/Sandra and Kevin McCabe and Family
Legators
- B J Moss
- J E Bird
- S Lewis
People’s Postcode Lottery
- Support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery
Trusts, foundations and charitable partnerships
- Chillag Family Charitable Trust, The
- City Bridge Trust
- Corra Foundation
- Covid-19 Support Fund
- Dulverton Trust, The
- Fidelity UK Foundation
- Gannochy Trust, The
- Garfield Weston Foundation
- Haramead Charitable Trust
- Harebell Centenary Fund, The
- Jenour Foundation, The
- Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation
- M & C Trust, The
- Mr & Mrs JMB Charitable Trust
- Margaret and David Walker Trust, The
- National Lottery Community Fund, The
- Portrack Charitable Trust
- Prince of Wales Charitable Fund, The
- Princess Anne’s Charities Trust, The
- Trevor Hemmings Foundation
- Shaw Foundation, The
- Simon Gibson Charitable Trust, The
- Stichting Teuntje Anna Fund
- Thomas Roberts Trust, The
- Tory Family Foundation
- Waterloo Foundation, The
- Weinstock Fund
- William Grant Foundation
- Youth Futures Foundation
Government
- Department of Health and Social Care
- European Social Fund
- European Union’s ERASMUS programme
- Scottish Government
- Welsh Government