Letter to editor: Sally Miller, Carers Network’s CEO on ‘Making Caring Visible’ this Carers Week 2020

Dear Editor,

This week is Carers Week – the national week to raise awareness of and celebrate the role played in society by unpaid carers. By ‘Making Caring Visible’ during the week we are not just asking for carers’ contribution to be recognised. We are also calling on everyone in the community to acknowledge their responsibility in identifying carers and young carers among their employees and pupils, and then to make sure those carers have the information and support they need to maintain their health and wellbeing.

New research from the Carers Trust estimates there are 13.6 million unpaid carers in the UK — which is 1 in 4 of population. The pandemic has done a lot to hide carers, confining them to their homes more and making them less visible. This makes it even more important that we come together to recognise the role played by unpaid carers, ensuring they are valued and well-supported.

Carers Network is an independent charity that supports carers in the City of Westminster, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Carers provide round-the-clock care to a family member, often without support or a break, saving our health services billions per year. But caring can be incredibly challenging with carers too often getting little or no leisure time to relax. Many of the carers we work with talk of feeling increasingly isolated and lonely as their caring role grows. Without proper support and respite this can take a toll on a carer’s health and wellbeing.

This year Carers Network’s programme of Carers Week activities and groups for carers will be online in response to COVID-19. Local unpaid carers have shown their continued resilience and adaptability by adopting new technologies during the lockdown and have already been engaging with regular online groups Carers Network has been running.

You can find more information on Carers Network’s Carers Week programme here:
https://carers-network.org.uk/carers-week-2020-programme/