Carers Week
What is Carers Week?
Carers Week is celebrated annually to raise awareness of carers across the UK. This includes unpaid carers and those with caring responsibilities, to highlight the challenges carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK.
This week allows people to reflect on what a carer is and what caring responsibilities may look like. This helps people who don’t see themselves as a carer to reflect and assess the role they undertake and access much-needed support they have previously been unaware of.
How is Carers Week Celebrated?
The campaign is brought to life by Carers Week UK along with the individuals and organisations who come together to organise activities and events throughout the UK. Events are focussed on educating people and raising awareness of the caring landscape of the UK population.
Increasingly people are taking on additional caring responsibilities for relatives and friends who are disabled, ill, elderly or require support and they make up 6.5 million unpaid caregivers.
Carers Week and Employment
Millions of working people have caring responsibilities which they need to manage alongside their job. Carers should be able to work in an environment that both supports their career and recognises their role as a career, employers can support these employees by:
- Caring about work/life balance
- Introducing and/or promoting Flexible Working
- Introducing and/or promoting Hybrid Working
- Providing access to benefits and support services
- Introducing enhanced leave policies
- Using Carers Week to both highlight resources and educate your workforce on the importance of unpaid carers who also work
- Encourage carers to connect and support one another, this could be done via a carers or family network group
