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Home > Patients and Carers > Carers, Friends and Family > Advice and Information for Carers

Advice and Information for Carers

If you're caring for someone, it's important you get the advice, information and support you need to help in your caring role. 

There are a range of benefits, tax credits and other financial support that you may be entitled to as a carer. The main benefit is called Carer's Allowance. It is a state benefit which provides a weekly payment to support you in your caring role. The allowance is for people who care for someone with a severe disability. You can't be in full time education or earn over a certain amount of money to claim the benefit. You also must be aged 16 or over and caring for someone at least 35 hours a week.

To check the full set of criteria and whether you would qualify for Carer's Allowance, visit the DirectGov website.

The Carers Trust website also has helpful information about who can claim this benefit.

There are other forms of financial support available for carers which can enhance existing benefits or credits and provide additional support.

Some of these include:

  • Carer's Credits
  • Income Support
  • Tax Credits

Details about all of these and how to apply, are on the DirectGov website

If you want further advice about caring, please speak to a member of our staff who will be happy to advise you about the support that is available

Get a Carer's Assessment

As a carer, it’s important you get the right help and support. You have a legal right to an assessment. It’s an opportunity for you to talk about the things that could make caring easier. This could be providing additional services for the person you’re looking after, or services for you as a carer. It may also include respite care. 

You can still have a carer’s assessment even if the person you care for refuses help or an assessment themselves.

During your assessment

During the assessment, you will be able to discuss your role as a carer, how it affects you and what help you might benefit from. It’s important to think about your own health and wellbeing and to make sure you still get time for yourself.

You can get a carer’s assessment whether you care for someone with a physical or a mental health problem. The assessment isn’t linked to Carer’s Allowance (financial support for carers).

How can I get an assessment?

To find out about getting an assessment, you can: 

  • Speak to a member of our staff

  • Contact your local social services team

The following items are useful resources for carers:

Feeling Lonely - a guide to staying connected in older age - Independent Age

If you need advice or support in your role as a carer, please speak to a member of staff who will be happy to help 

If you need further advice or support with contacting a service, you can speak to our Complaints and Patient Experience Team. They can also help if you want to discuss a concern or compliment for a service.

External contacts - there are lots of organisations and charities who help to support carers:

Find out how research could support those who care for people with dementia and for patients who have dementia.


Patient Leaflets

Carer Booklets

As we work towards embedding the Triangle of Care framework throughout our organisation, the Patient and Public Engagement Team and the Communications Team have been involving and engaging with patients, carers and our staff to develop carer’s booklets.

 

These booklets provide information, advice and guidance to carers about the service, their rights to support, information on patient/service user advocacy, local peer support and guidance to further information such as condition specific organisations, mental health act regulations etc. Each booklet includes bespoke information for each team, tailored to each carers group, service and location.

Each team worked together to engage with carers from carers groups linked to teams, external carers groups, online forums and the families, friends and caring group and individuals to gain a wide spectrum of insight and understanding to create booklets that are truly meaningful and valuable to carers.

We are working towards completing booklets for all teams and services, however this is an ongoing project and will take time to create bespoke booklets for all units and services.

Example booklet.jpg

List of complete carers booklets:

Adult mental health inpatient

Community Mental Health (CMHT)

 

 

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