If you are providing care for a friend or loved one, you may be entitled to an assessment of how that caring role impacts your life. This is called a Carer’s Assessment.

Caring for someone can significantly affect your overall wellbeing, mentally and physically as well as financially and socially. The Carer’s Assessment examines all of these areas and identifies any support that can be put in place to make your caring role easier and lessen the impact on your daily life.

The person you are caring for does not need to have an assessment of their care for you to be eligible for a Carer’s Assessment.

The assessment can be completed by yourself, in your own time and posted or emailed back to Kirklees Council, or you can work alongside a professional to complete the assessment by filling it out in person or over the phone. For parent carers, the assessment is usually completed at the same time as any assessment of your child’s needs.

This website explains more about carers assessments and how to access them in more detail, in an easy-to-read, bullet point format.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence has lots of useful resources and a section on the website explaining the areas of your life where your wellbeing may be affected by your caring role.

Many carers feel that they have no choice but to care for their loved ones. However, as a carer, it’s important to remember that you have the right to choose which aspects of care you are comfortable with and able to provide, if any at all.

You can also choose whether to have a Carer’s Assessment. A Carer’s Assessment outlines what support the carer needs for their own wellbeing. It is carried out by the local council and considers:

• If the carer is willing and able to provide care
• If caring is impacting the carer’s wellbeing
• If the carer needs support, help or aid

This helps the local council form a support plan to help support carers.

You (with the cared-for where possible) can also choose what care services are accessed. In many cases, the carer knows the cared-for person closely and can make decisions with them or on their behalf to ensure that their wishes and best interests are put first.

This can sometimes contradict the opinions of other people, organisations and agencies. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, carers have the right to information and advice about all relevant services available to their loved ones and to be able to make informed decisions on which services would be most suitable.

You and your loved one have the right to choose the provider of care (or care home) and do not have to accept the first one offered by the local authority. Being a carer or providing care is not a one size fits all role. It must be tailored to meet the needs of not only the cared-for person but the carer themselves.

As a carer, you have the right to take a break. It’s important to look after your own wellbeing so you can stay healthy and continue to care for your loved one.

Carers Count can signpost you to organisations that can help you improve your wellbeing, offer respite and enable you to have a better balance between your caring role and personal needs.

We also have a wide range of groups and activities, where you can take time away from your caring role and focus on your own wellbeing.

Did you know that you can register as a carer with your GP practice? If your practice knows that you are a carer, they can help you in many ways:

• Access to their Carers Champion, who can signpost you to your local carers support service.
• Offering appointments at convenient times.
• Offering double appointments to enable you and the person you care for to be seen at the same time, rather than having to make two visits.
• Free annual health checks and Flu vaccinations.
• Sharing information about the person you care for, subject to their consent. (Where a person lacks capacity to give consent, this may still be possible if you have a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health).
• Involvement in the care planning of the person you care for.
• Being kept up to date about relevant events and information.
• Referral to a Social Prescriber who can refer you to other services or support groups or simply provide a listening ear.
• Keeping a check on your physical and emotional wellbeing and the impact of your caring role on your health.

Some Practices also run carers groups, or occasional carers coffee mornings.

For more information, check out our GP Surgeries page.

Balance caring and work can be challenging, but flexible working arrangements can make it easier. Flexible working allows you to maintain your job while effectively managing your other responsibilities, such as caring for a loved one.

Did you know 87% of people want more flexibility in their work, but many don’t know how to ask.

Many carers fear that their employer would not allow flexible working or that they wouldn’t be eligible. However, with new UK legislation, employers are taking the right to flexible working more seriously – if it isn’t in their policies already.

Carers UK have put together a series of videos about flexible working, from ‘what is flexible working’ to ‘how to communicate your request’. You can watch the videos here: https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/work-and-career/your-rights-in-work/flexible-working-videos/

Yes! Advocacy is all about people having more control over their own lives. We help people to make their own decisions, speak up about what they want and need, and achieve their own goals. Our work includes supporting people to feel more in control of the health and social care processes they are involved in.

An Advocate can help you find out what your rights are and help you to access all the information you need to make your own informed decisions. You can learn more by visiting our Advocacy page  and you can also watch the video below to hear more about a carer’s experience of advocacy support:

If you are under 18 and care for a family member with an illness, disability, mental ill-health or drug and alcohol dependency, it’s important to recognise that you shouldn’t have to take on all the responsibilities of an adult carer or paid care worker. You deserve plenty of time for school, spending time with friends, and pursuing your hobbies. It’s essential that you feel supported and comfortable expressing how much care you are willing and able to provide.

Barnardo’s Young Carers Service can help you understand your rights as a young career. Please watch the following video to find out more.

Kirklees Young Carers speaking to us about Carers Rights Day 

If you know a young person caring for someone with a physical or mental health condition or disability, please contact them for more information on 01484 426100 or check out the Barnardo’s website: www.barnardos.org.uk/kirklees-ycs.html.

An Advocate will recognise that you are the expert on your child’s situation and will help you to access information about your rights. Please find out more by watching this video: Carers Carers Count Parent Carers info video

If you are an adult (over 18) and caring for an individual with additional needs, either you or the person you care for lives in Kirklees and you have an issue you need support with, we should be able to help. If we can’t help, we will try and find an organisation who can!

YES! Getting Carer’s Allowance still means you are an unpaid carer, and you can have an Advocate if you have an issue, you need help with.

Advocates will work alongside you, at your pace. They are not there to tell you what to do or make decisions for you. Advocates will listen and will help put your views across. Advocates will never do anything about you, without you!

Yes. An Advocate can help you to find out what your rights are and help you to access all the information you need to make your own informed decisions. You can also learn about carers’ rights by visiting our Carers’ Rights page.

Yes, you do. We understand that the caring role still continues when your loved one (partner, child, parent, sibling, neighbour etc.) is in a residential setting.

Yes, there is no charge for advocacy support.

Yes. An Advocate would support you in communicating with health and social care professionals. This could be face-to-face, through an email or a letter, or at meetings.

Yes, advocates can go to meetings with you and be there at assessments if it would help. Advocates can help you to prepare for meetings, explain what to expect and be there with you. We can prompt you if needed and talk on your behalf if necessary.

An Advocate would help you to make a complaint to social services and other local authority agencies (such as the Accessible Homes Team, Client Financial Affairs, or Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing). We would listen to your views and work with you to highlight your concerns. We would support you throughout the complaints process.

Cloverleaf Advocacy offers NHS Complaints Advocacy in the Kirklees area, to find out more visit: Independent Health Complaints Advocacy 

Yes. An Advocate can never guarantee you getting the outcome you want but can help you to challenge decisions that have been made about the person you care for if you disagree with them.

Yes, they can but they cannot guarantee the outcome. An Advocate would help you in challenging the cuts made and would explain the options available to you in fighting this issue, including making a formal complaint.

An Advocate would help parent carers with any health and social care related issues or concerns you may have. This includes support at meetings, including child protection and child in need meetings, TAF (Team Around the Family) meetings, care reviews and support at assessments. This list is not exhaustive; give us a call to see if we can help and if we can’t, we will put you in touch with someone who can.

No, as advocates have no legal training they cannot help you with legal issues, but they can help you to access the right legal support.