About us
Our work stems from the fact carers often go about their roles despite the toll it might take on their own wellbeing, often having to make sacrifices that hamper their own ability to lead a normal life. Whether financial, educational or otherwise, we seek to limit the challenges that carers face. We achieve this through four core workstreams: raising awareness of carers, influencing local policy through community engagement activities, improving carer wellbeing and connecting carers to each other and to support and training opportunities through our services.
Key Facts About Carers
How many carers are there?
According to the Carers Week 2020 Research Report there are an estimated 13.6 million unpaid carers in the UK today. That’s 1 in 4 people. Most of these carers were already caring before March 2020, but a staggering 4.5 million people have started providing unpaid care since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Young people are taking on caring roles too and the Children’s Society estimates that there 800,000 young carers in the UK.
The contribution of carers
Our health and social care system relies on carers, and saves the UK economy £193 billion a year according to Carers UK. Despite the huge contribution of carers, many carers feel unvalued.
The 2011 census found that there are over 20,000 unpaid carers living in Lambeth, with 4,270 of these carers supporting people between 20 and 49 hours and a further 3,172 supporting people for 50 hours or more.
The impact of caring
on carers
Caring can impact on all aspects of carers’ lives. These statistics from Carers UK State of Caring report 2021 give a snapshot of the wide variety of issues facing carers:
Juggling caring with day-to-day responsibilities
Carers can feel stretched to the limit trying to juggle everything. Over a third of carers (38%) are caring 100+ hours a week.
Education and Career
1 in 8 carers have had to reduce their working hours and 23% of working carers have had their employment situation negatively affected during the pandemic.
Poor Health
Carers are more likely to be in poor health than the general population, with 25% saying their physical health is bad or very bad compared to 22% of carers in 2019.
Friendship and Relationships
34% of carers said that they often or always feel lonely. 61% of carers said that they were worried about the impact of caring on their relationships with friends and family.
Access to support and services
Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, 1 in 5 carers didn’t receive any support in their caring role. 38% of carers do not know what support is available to them in their local area.
Managing stress
30% of carers said their mental health was bad or very bad. This figure has increased in 27% since 2019 and shows a trend towards poorer mental health.
Money worries
Many carers face precarious financial situations, with 31% or carers saying they were struggling to make ends meet and a further 18% in debt because of caring.
Me Time
72% of carers have not had any breaks from their caring role during the pandemic.
How we are addressing these needs
At Carers' Hub Lambeth we focus on four key objectives to help us make life better for carers in Lambeth. All of our projects and services are designed to address at least one of these areas. Read below to find out more or get in touch with one of the team.
Improve wellbeing
Caring for a loved one, family member, friend or neighbour, can have a significant impact on all aspects of a carer's life. Through peer support groups and one-to-one appointments, our dedicated and passionate team work with carers aged 5 and up to help overcome a range of challenges, including: managing at home; finances; caring with confidence; education and employment; physical health; and emotional wellbeing.
Increase connections
There’s a lot of support on offer in Lambeth, but these things can be difficult to find. We’re here to fill those gaps. We provide information on training courses, local services and help carers build connections with each other and their community. We also help professionals working with carers to connect with one another, through our Carers Collaborative Network.
Raise awareness
We believe that caring is everybody’s business. We work hard to raise awareness through outreach in the local community, social media and through our partnerships. Our Carers Strategy Development Manager enables carers and our partners working in Lambeth to have a meaningful input to the development of a carers strategy in the borough.
Influence
We believe that the development of local policy, practice and services that affect carers should take carers’ experiences into account. For this reason, we raise awareness of carers, influencing local policy through community engagement activities. Our Carers' Strategy Development Manager plays a key role in the development and delivery of the Lambeth Carers' Strategy.