New pledge to transform support unpaid carers across the North East
More than 100 professionals and organisations have signed the commitment
Organisations and professionals across the North East are backing a new pledge to improve support for unpaid carers.
The Commitment to Unpaid Carers is a pledge developed by unpaid carers and carer support organisations, aimed driving collective action across the health and social care system.
More than 100 professionals and organisations have signed the Commitment, with early signatories including North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, David Smith MP and Ian Lavery MP.
Point North, the community foundation for County Durham, Tees Valley the wider North East, is among the organisations that have signed the Commitment and also helped to support its delivery.
In the North East, carers make up 10.1% of the population, with an estimated 286,000 individuals providing unpaid care across the two regions. Unpaid carers contribute more than £184 billion to the UK economy each year.
Yet thousands have expressed their concerns about the pressures within adult social care systems and the lack of support available for carers.
The Commitment to Unpaid Carers aims to bring together hundreds of professionals and organisations across the North East to improve support for carers.
It focuses on four key aims:
- Raising awareness and recognition of carers
- Securing funding that reflects carers’ needs and reduces inequalities
- Embedding carers’ involvement in co-production within policy and strategy
- Streamlining support across the system
Michelle Cooper, CEO at Point North said: “Unpaid carers are doing the quiet, constant work that keeps our communities going, often without recognition or support. That responsibility is made heavier by the realities many people face in our region, from poverty and insecure housing to the strain of balancing caring with the need to earn a living.
“As a place-based grantmaker, we see how powerful it is when organisations come together around a shared purpose. This Commitment is about turning that shared understanding into coordinated action that makes life better for carers across the North East and North Cumbria.”
Luke Bramhall, CEO of Newcastle Carers said: “We’ve played an instrumental role in developing the Commitment to Unpaid Carers, and it’s been something the region has needed for a long time.
“Carers are the backbone of our society, and for too long many have struggled to access the support they need. We need the unity of organisations and professionals to properly commit to supporting carers of all ages.
“Many organisations are already doing vital work to help unpaid carers. Our ultimate aim is to drive meaningful change across our region and demonstrate what can be achieved on a national scale.”
Beth Major, CEO of The Junction in Middlesbrough, said: "We're backing the pledge because we're a charity who works with young carers and we see every day the vital importance of systems being connected together so support is easier to find and we've heard from carers who've experienced that.
"We've got growing numbers of carers in our society, both children and young people and adults, and it is really vitally important that the people who do unpaid care, who save the whole of society a fortune, are supported appropriately.
"We know that if young carers are supported in their caring role effectively and they are given the right support to develop they can go on and lead really successful lives, but that takes a lot of support.
"What we see is young carers not achieving an education the same way as other young people. We see young carers facing health inequities around emotional wellbeing and mental health. And we see children and young people actually carrying the weight of societal care.
"I have a caring responsibility in my own personal life and there is a huge network of other adults around me who helps to support the person who is cared for. A lot of our young carers, they don't necessarily have that network of support around them.
"I know how difficult it can be to fit everything around work and full-time as an adult. Now when you translate that into a 13 or 14 year old's life, add 25 hours on average of care and responsibility on top of school, that is a huge weight for young people to carry."