Supporting Employers of Carers

DHL

The Health and Safety Manager felt that there was so much focus on safety and they seemed to forget the “health” part. With this in mind the focus of 2017 was going to be their Colleague’s Wellbeing. To kick this off, it was decided to host a “wellbeing” event for all of the colleagues to attend in the form of a market stall event and they invited various groups to attend that it was felt could improve colleague wellbeing. The event was held in January as we felt people are enthusiastic about making changes in the New Year and it was given a strapline of “New Year, New You”.

The Market stalls included Northamptonshire Carers who provide information and support for the counties unpaid Carers and carried out Carers Assessments during the course of the day. Various organisations also attended which covered many aspects, such as smoking cessation, weight control, financial help, social and emotional support, alcohol awareness and housing and education, there was promotion of physical activity, Quorn foods to promote healthy eating and Prostate Cancer UK.

Overall the day was a great success with positive feedback from all parties, especially the colleagues with several signing up to stop smoking, free gym sessions, many carer referrals and a few alcohol awareness and weight control wake up calls, especially just after the festive period.  The intension is to hold these events on average 3 times per year with opportunity for colleagues to have a Carers Assessment within the work environment.

Nationwide

The Supporting Working Carers team were approached by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager from a large financial institution to provide an opportunity for their staff to gain support around the issues of working and caring for someone else.  The plan was to provide an In-house support network for employees as well as regular information and advice sessions.

Initially a presentation was given to employees with a brief consultation questionnaire being circulated.  Staff were then invited to provide details to enable Northamptonshire Carers to register them on the database and to have an initial conversation.  Arrangements were made to conduct Carers Assessments within the work environment.  Future plans are for a regular assessment sessions to take place where employees can pre book to have a Carers Assessment during their working hours.

Carer 1 contacted us via an in-house information session, currently caring for 1 of her children who has a diagnosed hearing loss.  Carer 1 was concerned that communicating with this child will become increasingly more difficult as she got older and requested a Carers Assessment during discussions it became clear that the British Sign Language Course that would enable her to start the communication process.

As part of the assessment process Carers can be provided with a Direct Payment for services that are not commissioned by Northamptonshire County Council. Carer 1 has requested £305.00 to pay for course tuition fees and is awaiting the outcome.

Carer 2 has been known to the organisation for some years. Carer 2 took redundancy to create a Social Enterprise unfortunately due to ill health had to take time out, during a general conversation the Building Better Opportunities project was mentioned as a possible option to enable a return to work. Accessing C.V writing support or training courses that would allow Carer 2 to gain the necessary skills to promote and manage her business.