Welcome to the first Carers Wales e-bulletin of 2024.
It has already been a whirlwind start to the year for the Carers Wales team, built off the momentum of our hybrid Carers Wales Conference in the Autumn. I would like to thank so many of you for attending and for being involved in positive and constructive conversations about unpaid care.
The early part of this year has been focused on the upcoming Carers Leave Act, being implemented from 6 April. This is the culmination of a huge amount of lobbying work by us and Carers UK for this new GB-wide act, which gives unpaid carers in the workplace the right to unpaid leave to care. We are in the process of rolling out webinars on the new act (register now) and have added content to our website: Right to Carer’s Leave | Carers UK
Another major milestone was the hybrid all-Wales Carers Assembly in February. It was fantastic to welcome carers back to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. Carers grilled members of the Senedd and health and social care professionals in a series of panel discussions. An assembly report and video will be launched in the upcoming weeks.
We have also been supporting the Ministerial Advisory Group for Unpaid Carers, which has established a Task and Finish Group examining the effectiveness and impact of carers’ needs assessments. This work is based on the ADSS rapid review of carers’ needs assessments and the range of recommendations that were made: Rapid review of how unpaid carers’ rights have been upheld during and after the Covid-19 response (adss.cymru)
As the secretariat of the Wales Carers Alliance, we are also reaching out to offer opportunities to share your work or speak with members of the alliance. To do so, contact us at info@carerswales.org
We are also calling out to unpaid carers and professionals to join our Carers Wales Advisory Committee. Please let me know if you are interested.
As always, if you have any feedback, please get in touch.
Claire
Carers Wales Director
Standalone news
Track The Act
We have re-launched Track The Act, our research programme monitoring the implementation of carers rights through the Social Services and Wellbeing Act.
We request that you share the carers survey with carers, so we can get an accurate picture of how carers are accessing information, advice and support throughout Wales.
Please share the link: surveymonkey.com/r/TTA6 and get in contact if you would like any graphics or social media, or newsletter copy to promote the survey.
The survey will be live until 1 May.
Policy and Public Affairs
- We engaged with both Welsh Labour leadership campaigns and were pleased to see unpaid carers highlighted.
- The policy team has been travelling across Wales attending the party conferences.
- We contributed to the Learning and Work Institute’s research into unpaid carers in further education.
- And we’ve been working hard preparing for Carers Week events and activity. This year the theme is ‘putting carers on the map’ highlighting the invaluable contributions of carers across the UK and ensuring their voices are heard loud and clear. For more information please visit: Home | Carers Week
Information and advice
- We are working on the yearly update of our resources (factsheets, guides and website content) ready for 2024/25 versions to be published in April.
- Have you seen our videos and animations available in different languages? If not have a look at our Carers Wales channel on YouTube: Carers Wales – YouTube
- We offer an information and advice service to unpaid carers in Wales, find details available: Help and advice | Carers Wales (carersuk.org)
Training and influencing opportunities
- We continue to deliver free online training to social workers across Wales through our Carer Aware project. The training helps social workers to build positive and productive relationships with the carers they support. If you are a social worker, find out more and sign up to any of our sessions between April 2024 and March 2025.
- Our Carer Voice and Influencing training supports carers to be engaged, inform citizens through content on carers rights, communication and having their say in decision making. Find out more and sign up to any of our upcoming training sessions.
Volunteering
We have the following volunteering opportunities at Carers Wales; Community Champion, Carer Voice Champion, Workplace Champion. To find out more about our roles or to join our team of volunteers supporting the Carers Wales Team across Wales, please email volunteer@carerswales.org or visit the Carers Wales Volunteering webpage.
Online support sessions
We continue to deliver online sessions for carers. For a list of all our online support sessions please visit: MeTime sessions | Carers Wales (carersuk.org)
Here are a couple coming up:
- Carers Rights in Wales – Tuesday 19 March 1-3pm: Carers have fundamental rights under Welsh and UK law. This session will discuss those rights, how this can support you in your caring role and where to get support accessing them. Sign up
- Employability session with Moxie People – Wednesday 27 March 1-2pm: This session will cover building confidence, recognising transferable skills, CV writing, how to start, and where to look to get back into employment. As well as how to keep calm and stay confident in interviews. Sign up
Carers Wales, Unit 5, Ynys Bridge Court, Cardiff, CF15 9SS
| T 029 2081 1370 | E info@carerswales.org
