Your rights: today, tomorrow and in the future.
We have joined Carers UK and hundreds of organisations and thousands of individuals raising awareness of caring, helping to identify carers and signposting them to information, advice and support.
Carers Rights Day empowers carers with information and support. It helps them to feel confident asking for what they need and challenge things when their rights are not being met, whether that be that in the workplace or education, in accessing health or social care, when interacting with other professionals or at home.
We want our carers to feel empowered everyday, not just on Carers Rights Day. We have a whole section-Resources, where there is a variety of information for families.
Use the button below to take you to our resources section of our website.
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- Carers rights – eligibility
Your rights, right now
If you are juggling work with your caring responsibilities, you have the right to request flexible working. Carers UK has a range of information on what your rights are and how to make the request with your employer. Visit the Carers UK website for more information.
If you provide unpaid care, you can ask your GP practice to identify you as a carer on your patient record and might be called forward for priority vaccines or other public health campaigns. Carers UK has information on how to talk to your GP – and even provides a useful letter template to download and use. You can find them on their website.
It’s essential to find ways to look after your health and wellbeing and one way is to exercise your right to request a free flu jab. If you are the main carer for an older or disabled person, who may be put at risk if you became ill, or if you are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance, you should be offered a free flu jab. Speak to your GP or local pharmacist. Carers are also a priority group for accessing Covid booster jabs this winter.
Carers Assessment
If you’re over 18 and provide regular unpaid care for someone, you’re entitled to a carer’s assessment – it doesn’t matter how much or what sort of care you provide.
Use the link below which will redirect you to Essex County Council’s website to request a carer’s assessment.
New rights, right around the corner
The Carer’s Leave Act is something Carers UK has been campaigning for tirelessly for many years and we expect it will become law in 2024. It will give employees juggling work with unpaid care a legal right to request up to five days unpaid leave every twelve months, which will help many manage some of the day-to-day challenges of being a carer – enabling them to stay in employment.
With the introduction of the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act anyone, including unpaid will be able to ask their employer for changes to their working hours, times of work, or place of work, from day one. And being able to ask for a different flexible working arrangement more than once a year will be a huge help too. We expect the Act to become law in 2024.
Earlier this year we shared with families a two part presentation which explained your rights as a carer. Part 1 is focused on carer’s eligibility threshold and the carers assessment.
To find out more about the Carers Assessment process, visit the Carers UK website.
Part 2 covers finances, benefits, appointeeship, cost of living and lots more.
We have a call back service, where we can arrange a time and date that suitable for you. If you would like to get in touch, about a specific support, or information give us a call on 01255 554029 or mail us at info@essexcarersnetwork.co.uk
In May we launch our ‘Unpaid Carer not Unemployed’ campaign. This petition is asking for ‘Unpaid Carer’ to be an option as an employment status, and for large organisations and businesses to lead by example to allow Unpaid Carers the recognition, respect and dignity they are well overdue.
Unpaid carers are seeing the squeeze of the cost of living just like everyone else. But unpaid carers hold a huge amount of responsibility on their shoulders and aren’t always able to work, or increase their hours, or get a second job. Carers Allowance if broken down into the hourly rate of the qualifying 35hour week is £2.19 an hour! Given that many thousands of unpaid carers care for much longer than that a week, it’s frightening to even think about that hourly rate.
If you haven’t already please sign the petition and join us to for unpaid carers to be recognised. You do not have to be a carer to sign the petition, do share with friends, families, colleagues, everyone!
