Carers
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Mindme Locate is available through The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. For each Locator sold through The Network Mindme will donate £10 and will then donate £1 per connection per month.
The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is the largest provider of comprehensive support services, reaching over 400,000 carers, including 25,000 young carers, through a unique network of 144 independently managed Carers’ Centres, 85 young carers’ services and interactive websites.
Each Carers’ Centre within The Network is an independent charity in its own right, delivering a wide range of local support services to meet the needs of carers in their own communities. Each provides expertise specific to their particular area of the UK, including:
- finding hidden carers via outreach in GP surgeries, hospital wards and schools;
- finding the right information for every carer, whatever their circumstances;
- making sure carers’ voices are listened to by local decision makers;
- supporting carers emotionally and practically throughout their caring journey;
- helping to make caring a positive experience by helping carers to share experiences and by ensuring access to breaks, education, training and employment.
The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and The Network of Carers’ Centres work together so that carers’ voices are heard by regional and national decision making bodies.
Who are carers?
A carer is someone of any age who provides unpaid support to family or friends who could not manage without this help. This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems.
Why do carers need support?
Carers are the largest source of care and support in each area of the UK. It is in everyone’s interest that they are supported. In order to care safely and in good health, carers need information, support, respect and recognition from the professionals with whom they are in contact. Improved support for the person being cared for can make the carer’s role more manageable.
Carers often suffer ill-health due to their caring role. They need support and understanding to maintain their own physical and mental health and wellbeing. Carers need support to be able to juggle their work and caring roles or to return to work if they have lost employment due to caring.
Carers experience many different caring situations. A carer could be someone looking after a new baby with a disability or caring for an elderly parent, someone supporting a partner with a substance misuse or mental health problem. Despite these differing caring roles, all carers share some basic needs. All carers also need services to be able to recognise the individual and changing needs throughout their caring journey. Post-caring, carers may need support to rebuild a life of their own and reconnect with education, work or a social life.
With an ageing population, the UK will need more care from families and friends in the future. This is an issue that will touch everyone’s life at some point. Carer support concerns everyone.
Carers across the UK
- There are almost 6 million carers in the UK - that is one in 10 people. This is rising.
- Out of the UK’s carers, 42% of carers are men and 58% are women;
- There are 1.25 million carers caring for over 50 hours a week. This is a full-time workforce greater than that of the National Health Service;
- Around two million people move in and out of caring every year;
- Carers are estimated to save the Government between £67 billion and £87 billion a year;
- Out of all UK carers, 29% carers are caring for over 50 hours a week;
- On average, carers care for over 6 years;
- The average number of years a carer is expected to care for is 13, with 29% expected to care for at least a further 15 years.
Dementia
- There are currently 700,000 people living in the UK with dementia today;
- Two-thirds of people with dementia live at home and most are supported by unpaid carers;
- In England, there are 476,000 unpaid carers of people living with dementia, an equivalent to some 574,000 in the UK.
Carers and older people
- In England, there are 1.7 million older people with personal care needs receiving some degree of informal care;
- In England and Wales, just under a million (950,000) over-65s are carers, 10% of whom are in poor health themselves;
- Currently, over-65s account for a third of all carers providing more than fifty hours of care a week;
- Over-65s who are providing more than fifty hours of care a week are more likely to be in ill health: 27.2% of those carers compared to 22.9% of all people are in ill health;
- By 2041, nearly 1.3 million disabled older people will need unpaid care from their children – an increase of 90%, but the increase in numbers of people providing care for 20 hours a week or more for older parents is estimated at 27% during that period, suggesting a large shortfall in the availability of unpaid care unless caring is made more attractive and/or sustainable for families.
To learn more about The Princess Royal Trust for Carers visit their website by clicking here
