Carers Rights Day / Diwrnod Hawliau Gofalwyr 2024: Recognising Your Rights

Thursday 21 November 2024

This November, we are raising awareness for Carers Rights Day 2024. Carers Rights Day is a UK-wide opportunity, and the theme this year is ‘Recognising Your Rights’.

People who support someone else: a loved one, friend, family member, or neighbour for example, have important rights in Wales. These people are sometimes called ‘Carers’ or ‘Unpaid Carers’.

The 2021 Census told us there are at least 310,000 Carers in Wales (estimated at 683,000 carers identified during COVID via Carers Wales report) and also showed that there were 7,246 people in Ceredigion providing unpaid care (although there may be many more who did not identify themselves as Carers).

Your rights as a Carer include:

• The right to unpaid Carer’s Leave

• The right to request flexible working

• The right to ask your GP practice to identify you as a carer

• The right (and choice) to request a free flu jab

• Protection against discrimination or harassment

• Requesting a carer’s assessment

• Being consulted when the person you care for is discharged from hospital

Many of the rights you are entitled to are available to you no matter how many hours you spend supporting another person, and whether they live with you or not.

If you’d like to read more about your rights as a carer, please see: www.gov.wales/charter-unpaid-carers-html

Children and young people who care, sometimes called ‘Young Carers’ or ‘Young Adult Carers’, also have specific rights. These come from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:

• The right to learn and have an education

• The right to meet with friends and enjoy groups and clubs

• The right to relax and play

• The right to privacy

• The right to say what you think should happen and be listened to

We would like to invite individuals, Schools, health bodies and Local Councils to sign up to the Young Carers Covenant and seek to commit to a fair future for all Young Carers this Carers Rights Day.

The UK State of Caring 2024 survey found that unpaid carers are finding it increasingly difficult to afford day-to-day living costs, with the worry and anxiety of this affecting their mental health and wellbeing.

• 61% of unpaid carers are worried about living costs and managing in the future, and over a third (35%) don’t feel confident they will be able to manage financially over the next 12 months

• 28% of carers are cutting back on essentials like food and heating, an increase from 25% in 2022

• 14% of carers are in debt because of caring

• Over half of carers (51%) said that their financial situation is having a negative impact on their mental health, and 61% feel stressed or anxious when they think about their financial situation

As we head into another winter, we want everyone who is supporting someone else to know that there is support there for you too. There are lots of local organisations who can support with energy costs, food, advice, and friendships.

Please feel free to get in touch with Credu for a warm welcome, information, and space to be heard, if any of these things mentioned affect you. Credu supports unpaid carers of all ages in Ceredigion in a range of different ways to suit individual needs.

Phone/ Ffôn: 03330 143377

Email/E-Bost: ceredigion@credu.cymru