TranslateSupport for Unpaid Carers
A carer is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. NHS England
1 in 7 people in the workforce will be caring for someone in some way and 250,000 people nationally resign every year due to caring responsibilities. At LUHFT we want to support our colleagues who are unpaid carers in balancing their caring responsibilities with work.
Are you an employee of the Trust who is also unpaid carer? Please see below the support you can access.
Carer Passport
This Carer Passport can be completed by any employee who has caring responsibilities which affect their work now or may do in the near future. The Carers Passport is a document which identifies carers and can be used to support conversations between you and your manager to explain your caring situation, how it impacts you within work and to discuss possible options to support you within work such as any reasonable adjustments that could be agreed to support you in work should you need them. It is designed to stop carers having to re-explain and re-justify why they have certain adjustments in place when their manager changes or goes on leave.
The Passport needs to be completed alongside and agreed with your manager, who must take into account both supporting you with your situation but also considering the needs of the service and what adjustments are reasonable.
Examples of adjustments that may be relevant:
- Acknowledgement that sometimes you may need to make or take a phone call during your shift to check on the person that you care for
- If your caring responsibility involves supporting the someone with a morning routine that can be challenging, it may be agreed that you can have a flexible start time without needing prior approval - for example, between 8am and 9am
- It may be agreed that if you need to take the person you care for to an appointment, the time can be made up the next day or to stay late at the end (proof may be required)
*Please Note – Any adjustments that concern a permanent or temporary contractual change such as reduction in hours should be considered via the Flexible Working Policy*
It is supposed to be a “live” document that is reviewed and updated when circumstances change, whether that is the demands of the job, the nature of the caring responsibilities or if you get a new manager. If you move departments, you can show them your existing Carer Passport and use it to explain your situation and what helps you best in work, although it will need to be agreed again as the service requirements may be different.
The template passport below contains some further information and prompts to help you prepare for the conversation and as well as some tips for managers.
The passport is owned by the employee but a copy can be stored securely in the employees personnel file.
Download the template Carer Passport here - Carer Passport
Recording on ESR
Supporting working carers is a key focus of an NHS England and Employers for Carers campaign and in order to support this initiative and understand the number of working carers across the UK, a competency has been added to ESR called ‘working carer’. This can be assigned to you either by yourself and approved by your manager, or directly by your manager. Although this is optional, we would encourage you to do so as it can help us see how many carers we have within our workforce and ensure that sufficient support is available and communicated to the right people.
We have a guide for both employees and managers in adding this to ESR as below:
Guide for Employee - Identifying Carers on ESR - Employee Initiated
Guide for Manager - Identifying Carers on ESR - Manager Initiated
Carer's Leave
All staff are entitled to Carer’s Leave which can be used in response to emergency situations involving someone you care for. It can be taken in days or in hours. It must be agreed with your manager and more information can be found in the Special Leave Policy.
Click here to access - Special Leave Policy
Flexible Working
All colleagues can make a request for flexible working and when involving caring responsibilities this request could be either permanent or temporary. This will be considered by your manager, and you have a right of appeal. For example, this could be used to request a change to the number of hours you work or change the days that you work. More information can be found in the Flexible Working Policy.
Click here to access - Flexible Working Policy
Health and Well-being
A caring role can sometimes have an impact on your own physical and mental well-being. Identifying yourself as a carer at your GP surgery will help the staff at the practice to support you. As a carer you may be offered specific vaccinations or a health check.
Please see the Life at LUHFT Staff Support Offer to see the various forms of health and well-being provisions available within the Trust.
Carer Digital Trust Membership
We’ve teamed up with Carers UK in collaboration with Cheshire and Merseyside ICB to be an active member of carers UK business forum, employers for carers. Through this membership our staff can access EFC's exclusive online platform which hosts a set of digital resources for: staff with line manager responsibilities, employee well being responsibilities or working carers.
Visit efcdigital.org and create an account using the membership access code: EFC9533
Jointly
jointly is an app that makes caring for someone a little easier, less stressful and a lot more organised by making communication and coordination simpler between those sharing care.
To use jointly for free please download the app, sign up and create your jointly circle. The following code will give you free access: DNH9533
External Support Organisations
Carer’s Assessments
A Carer’s Assessment is an opportunity to give you as a carer a voice and find out what support or services you may need. Someone from your local council or an organisation the council works with such as your local carers centre will complete the assessment. The assessment will look at how your caring role affects your physical and mental health, work, free time and relationships.
The assessment is usually face-to-face but is sometimes completed over the phone or online.
One of the outcomes from a carers assessment could be a way to access a break from your caring role.
Contact your local carers centre (details below) or go to https://carers.org for more information.
Carer’s Centres and Carer Support
|
Location |
Website |
Phone |
|
|
Carers Trust Cheshire and Warrington |
0300 102 0008 |
advice@cheshireandwarringtoncarers.org |
|
|
Cheshire East Carers Hub |
Cheshire East Carers Hub (All Age Carers Hub) | CheshireEast MarketPlace |
0300 030 0208 |
enquiries@cheshireeastcarershub.uk |
|
Halton Carers Centre |
01928 580 182 |
help@haltoncarers.co.uk |
|
|
Knowsley Carers Centre |
0151 549 1412 |
enquiries@knowsleycarers.co.uk |
|
|
Liverpool Carers Centre |
Local Solutions - Career’s Support | Local Solutions |
0151 709 0990 |
carerscentre@localsolutions.org.uk |
|
Sefton Carers Centre |
0151 288 6060 |
help@carers.sefton.gov.uk |
|
|
St Helens Carers Centre |
01744 675 615 |
info@sthelenscarers.org.uk |
|
|
Warrington Carers Centre (WIRED) |
01925 633 492 |
warrington.carers@wired.me.uk |
|
|
Wirral Carers Support (WIRED) |
https://wired.me.uk/carer-support/carer-support-groups-wirral/ |
0151 670 0777 |
cws@wired.me.uk |
|
Carers Direct |
https://www.carersdirect.org/ |
0300 123 1053 |
|
|
Carers UK |
https://www.carersuk.org/ | 0800 808 7777 | Create an account using your free access code: DNHS9533 to access resources. |
Specialist Support Services
|
Organisation |
Contact Information |
|
Age UK |
National helpline and to and find your local branch - 0800 055 6112 |
|
Age UK – Cheshire |
01606 881 660 |
|
Age UK – Cheshire East |
01625 612 958 |
|
Age UK – Liverpool and Sefton |
0151 330 5678 |
|
Age UK – Mid Mersey (includes Knowsley) |
0300 003 1992 |
|
Admiral Nurses |
https://www.dementiauk.org/getsupport/admiral-nursing/ |
|
Alzheimer’s Society |
https://www.alzeimers.org.uk/ |
|
Alzheimer’s Society - East Cheshire
|
0300 369 0570 E: cheshire@alzheimers.org.uk |
|
Alzheimer’s Society - Knowsley |
0151 426 4433 |
|
Alzheimer’s Society - Sefton |
01704 539 967 |
|
Epilepsy Action
|
0808 800 5050 |
|
Macmillan Cancer Support |
https://www.macmillan.org.uk 0800 808 0000 |
|
Maggie’s Carer Support Group |
https://www.maggies.org/our-centres/maggies-merseyside/ |
|
MND Association
|
https://www.mndassociation.org 0808 802 6262 |
|
Multiple Sclerosis Society UK |
https://www.mssociety.org.uk/ 0808 800 8000 |
|
National Dementia Helpline |
0300 222 1122 |
|
Neuroalliance
|
01923 882 590 E: info@neural.org.uk |
|
Spinal Injuries Association
|
0800 980 0501 |
|
The Brain Charity
|
https://www.thebraincharity.org.uk 0151 289 2999 Freephone: 0800 008 6417 |
|
TIDE (Together in Dementia Everyday)
|
0151 237 2669 |
If you have an urgent medical problem and you are not sure what to do NHS 111 can help.
Young Carers
- Halton Young Carers Centre - 01928 580 182
- Knowsley Young Carers Service - 0151 443 5059
- Liverpool Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers - 0151 228 4455
- St Helens Young Carers - 01744 677 279
- Sefton Young Carers - 0151 288 6060
- Warrington Young Carers Service (WIRED) - 01925 633 492 / E: wycadmin@wired.me.uk
