Carers’ Rights Day is coming up – 25th November.  This is an important day in the carers’ year – a time to think about what it means to be a carer and how carers can take advantage of services, support and financial help to make sure that  the best possible structures for sustaining their caring role are in place.

The Carers Leeds Advice Line (0113 380 4300)  is available 5 days a week for information, advice and support to help carers know about and understand their entitlements.   And Carers UK produce an excellent publication called ‘Looking after someone: Information and Support for Carers’.  Their updated version is now available on their website and includes a whole new section on  ‘the challenges of looking after someone, from making difficult decisions to protecting your own health and wellbeing’.  This is an excellent publication giving an overview of carers’ rights. https://www.carersuk.org/images/Looking_after_someone_guides/EI9035-Looking-after-someone-Eng-2017.pdf

Everyday, 6,000 people become carers –people who will often not know about their rights and entitlements.  I hope that Carers Rights Day will be a day when carers find out more about how they can get help.

And… we are running our own event for carers on Carers Rights Day  called ‘Carers Speak Up’ at St Georges Centre in Leeds.  Please contacts us on 0113 246 8338 for more information if you are interested.

Helena Bladon – Development Manager