Carers

A carer is someone who looks after a friend, relative or neighbour needing support owing to sickness, age or disability.

Carers fall broadly into 3 categories:

• adult carers - an adult caring for another adult such as a spouse, partner, friend or relative.
• parent carers - an adult who cares for an ill or disabled child.
• young carers - a child or young person who is carrying out significant caring tasks and assuming a level of responsibility for another person which would usually be taken by an adult. This may be a sibling or a parent.

Carers are a valuable resource and their contribution to community care far exceeds the combined efforts of statutory and voluntary agencies. The continued health and well being of carers is vital to the success of community care.

The impact of caring responsibilities on people's working lives and on their income cannot be ignored. Many carers give up work or reduce their hours of work to care. Many carers in paid work report an impact of their own physical and emotional health as a result of juggling a paid job with caring. Those carers who give up work to care, face the prospect of lost earnings, and the subsequent impact on savings and pensions, as well as the loss of skills in practice, and the disadvantage they might face in trying to return to work when caring ends.

You can find out more about carers and their rights, as well as what help is available to you in Cheshire, by visiting the Cheshire County Council Carers section (external Link) or The Carers Equal Opportunites Act (external Link)