Carers Week 2017

It’s Carers Week time again, and there have been plenty of events and activities taking place all across Scotland raising awareness of what carers do and how they can be supported. The theme of Carers Week is 'carer-friendly communities' - highlighting that it’s everyone’s responsibility to identify carers in the community, and provide or signpost to appropriate support if necessary. Although Scotland’s carers’ centres are fantastic organisations which provide excellent carer support, capacity and resourcing issues mean they can only support a fraction of Scotland’s 788,000 carers and young carers. That’s where carer-friendly communities can help: they have some understanding of a carer's daily reality; that they can be under a lot of pressure, and are often hidden from view. When a community is carer friendly, every corner – from the hospital, workplaces, schools, to leisure services and beyond – will be geared towards addressing the needs of carers and making life a little bit easier. The Carers (Scotland) Act, which is coming into force in 2018, mostly makes changes to how local authorities and health boards support carers, but it will have an impact on many third sector organisations as well. Local authorities will have a duty to provide information and advice to carers, including on income maximisation, education and training opportunities, and bereavement support, or ensure that services in their local area provide this information and advice. The prescribed information and advice topics are those which are most important to most carers, when they will need to know quality information quickly. So if your organisation comes into contact with carers, whether that’s because you work specifically to support them or the people they look after, or just because with 1 in 5 people being a carer you’re likely to see a fair amount of carers among your service users, it’s a good idea to get up to speed with the information and advice provisions in the Act. In the run-up to implementation of the Act I’ve spoken to a lot of third sector organisations who come into contact with carers and are unsure of what the Carers (Scotland) Act will mean for them and their services. Mostly they’re not getting clear information from their local or national government contacts. If the Act is to have a real impact on carers’ lives following its implementation, all services that support carers in a community need information about what’s changing and what they need to do. A consultation on draft regulations and information on draft guidance for the Act is imminent – Carers Trust Scotland and the national carer organisations will be providing briefings and information on these to make sure that the wider third sector is fully informed. Carers’ Week runs from 12-18 June, but of course for unpaid carers, the caring role continues relentlessly. That’s why community support is so vital for all carers, including those who are new to a caring role or who maybe don’t identify themselves as a carer who needs help and support. - People are rarely prepared for the huge impact that caring responsibilities can have on their lives, with 3 out of 4 carers saying they were not prepared for caring. Providing the right support can make a huge difference. To find your local carers’ service, visit http://www.careinfoscotland.co.uk/topics/support-for-carers/ .