News & campaigns
Recognising carers
Working with Carers Trust and funded by the
Department of Health, we have launched
a website to help organisations in different
sectors to develop Carer Passport schemes
Essentially a Carer Passport
is a record which identifies
a carer in some way and
sets out an offer of support,
services or other benefits
in response. The better the
offer, the more difference the
Carer Passport will make for
carers.
In this project, we’re focusing
on Carer Passport schemes
in hospitals, employers,
communities, mental health
trusts, schools, colleges and
universities. None of those
organisations is required to
run a Carer Passport scheme.
While running a scheme
can be a big undertaking,
the benefits of doing so – to
carers, to the organisations
themselves, to the wider
community – are huge.
Get involved
Find out if there are any
existing Carer Passport
schemes (or similar schemes)
which you could benefit
from. See below for ideas
about how to find this
information out. If there
aren’t any existing schemes
which are applicable to you,
then why not send our Carer
Passport Guide to a relevant
organisation so they can
read about the benefits for
themselves? You could be
12
the reason they set up a
scheme which could benefit
thousands of other carers!
carerpassport.uk
Employment
If your employer has a Carer
Passport, it should be listed
among your organisation’s
caring policies or staff
benefits.
If you cannot find evidence
of it, you could simply
ask whoever manages
human resources at your
organisation, attaching our
Guide to Carer Passports so
they can see the benefits for
themselves.
Hospital
If you are not sure whether
your hospital offers a Carer
Passport, you could check
with your local Patient Advice
and Liaison Service.
They might already have
some schemes in place to
identify carers. This would
include John’s Campaign for
people caring for someone
with dementia, the Butterfly
Scheme, and there are a few
others. Don’t forget that they
might not be called a Carer
Passport but might be called
a Carers Card, etc. Even if
there are existing schemes,
a Carer Passport can really
help draw these schemes
together.
If they don’t have an
existing scheme, could you
make contact in person, or
via email or social media,
drawing attention to our
Guide to Carer Passports to
help them get started or
develop their support for
carers?
Community
In some areas Carer
Passport schemes are
called something else, such
as a Carers Card or Carers
Discount Card, etc. In some
areas a Carers Emergency
Card acts as a Carers
Passport and offers discounts
when a carer shows the card.
There is no requirement
for any region or authority
to issue a Carer Passport,
though they can be a really
helpful tool to improve carer
identification and support.
Your local carers organisation
or local authority is the best
place to check whether there
is already a Carer Passport
operational in your area.
Check our local support
directory if you are not sure
where to start.
carersuk.org
/local
carersuk.org