Our commitment to Carers

In the UK, around 12,000 people become unpaid carers every day and in Surrey we recognise that unpaid carers hold families together and often fill the gaps statutory services are unable to provide.

We want Surrey to be a place where unpaid carers are recognised, valued and supported in their caring role and as an individual.

The Surrey Carers Strategies

Joint Carers Strategy

The Joint Carers Strategy 2021-24 (extended to 2026) was co-produced with unpaid carers and other stakeholders, building progress on the previous strategy in Surrey.

There are six main priorities within the strategy:

  1. Commission high quality services – this priority highlighted the commitment for carer support services in Surrey.  These included an information, advice and support service, carer breaks (wellbeing and end of life), GP personal health budgets, carer emergency planning and an independent giving carers a voice service.  This priority also incorporates improving the health and wellbeing of unpaid carers in the county.
  2. Promoting carers rights – this priority looks to work on improving carers assessments including transition assessments from children’s services to adult services, all services will promote inclusivity and diversity, and look to improve training available for carers to take part in.
  3. Increasing the visibility of carers – this priority looks to support professionals to identify unpaid carers and refer for support as appropriate, it also looks at enabling self-identification. We also committed to supporting young adult carers through the transition from young carer to adult carers in those important years of 18-24 and carer aware training for professionals to improve knowledge.
  4. Strengthen carer voice – this priority aims to involve carer voice wherever we can within the system.  This includes an established Carers Partnership Group where at least 50% of the membership will be unpaid carers.  This group meets quarterly to review current delivery and share their views on emerging priorities and upcoming workstreams. Within this area of the carers work, the programme also commissioned an independent ‘Giving Carers a Voice’ service, with the aim to hear from carers directly on what is working well and not so well in the county in its support for carers.
  5. Support working carers – In Surrey, we want to ensure that carers who want to work should be enabled to do so and should not be discriminated against.  Carers should be supported in the workplace to maintain their employment status.  Our aims are for staff within NHS and Social Care to complete Carer Awareness training to improve their knowledge and skills in order to support colleagues who are working carers; and developing a working carers passport and staff carer contingency plan to assist in open conversations with line managers around the caring responsibilities someone may have outside of the workplace.
  6. Effective communication and engagement – Communications with and for carers should be easy to navigate, tailored to individual needs, with the information provided in a format that carers can access and understand. There are several mechanisms in place to communicate and engage with carers.  This workstream looks at the diversity of communication and engagement, improving the accessibility of information and moving forward to a person-centred approach to communication.

Surrey Carers Strategy 2021 to 2026 (surreycc.gov.uk)

Young Carers Strategy

The Surrey Young Carers Strategy 2022-2026 was co-produced with young carers and stakeholders, ensuring that Surrey were able to work towards improving the lives of young people who care for someone.

There are six main priorities within the strategy:

  1. Increasing the visibility of young carers – Young people who care for someone are usually hidden within society.  This priority looks to improve the ways professionals are able to identify and support those young carers.
  2. Promoting young carers rights – Young carers and their families are entitled to request a young carer’s assessment, and young carers transition assessment to ensure their needs are met at every stage of their lives as a young carer.  This priority works on improving the knowledge of professionals in any setting to raise this assessment with families.
  3. Self-identification – Using a whole family approach, we want parents and guardians to feel safe informing professionals of the caring responsibilities their children are undertaking so appropriate support can be provided.
  4. Appropriate Services – Young carers who have access to support services are supported to have a life without inappropriate caring responsibilities.  This priority looks to ensure that support services respond to young carers needs in a flexible way when the young carer needs it.
  5. Improved Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health – Being a young carers can have a negative impact on their emotional wellbeing and mental health.  This priority looks at implementing the THRIVE framework across the system and working towards referral and assessment routes being made simple consistent and clear.
  6. Safeguarding – This priority is around ensuring that young carers are placed at the centre of all activities professionals are involved in and ensuring the voice of the young carer is heard to understand the caring role to ensure that activities are appropriate.

Surrey Young Carers Strategy (surreycc.gov.uk)