We want Sheffield to be a city where Carers are valued and have the right support to continue to care for as long as they want to. Our vision for supporting unpaid carers is underpinned in our Adult Social Care strategy ‘Living the life you want to live’, which says, ‘Unpaid carers are recognised for their expertise and supported to make the right choices for them and their family.
Our Young Carer, Parent and Adult Carer Strategy sets out our ambitious plan for every carer to have:
- a life of their own
- the choice to care and stop caring without recrimination
- equality of opportunity to life chances including education, training, work and leisure activities
The Strategy also sets out 6 ‘Carer Principles’ which were created by carers telling us what they wanted. These are:
- Access at the right time the type of information and advice they need for themselves, their family, and the person they care for
- Understand their rights and have access to an assessment
- Have a voice for themselves and the person they care for
- Have regular and sufficient breaks
- Continue to learn and develop, train or work (if they wish to)
- Look after their own health
Carers Delivery Plan
Supporting us to deliver our Strategy is our Carers Delivery Plan. This was developed in 2022 and directs our work until 2025.
The Carers Delivery Plan was created in response to what carers told us. The view was that we didn’t need a new Carers' Strategy, what we needed was a plan to help drive actions that create positive change.
The Delivery Plan brings together commitments and actions from the Council and our health partners so that we are directly accountable for improving support for carers.
The partners working on the Carers’ Delivery Plan are:
- Sheffield City Council
- Sheffield Carers Centre
- Sheffield Young Carers
- Sheffield Integrated Care Board
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
Our joint number one priority is to identifying carers so that we ensure that carers feel recognised, valued and supported. For this to happen, it needs collective working, focusing on action that can bring about change, so carers can live the life they want to live.
Carers Strategy Implementation Group
Carers and organisations including: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Young Carers, Sheffield Carers Centre and Sheffield Integrated Care Board meet up every 6 months to oversee progress of the Carers Delivery Plan.
The purpose of the group is to review actions and suggest new ones that that should be done to improve things for carers in Sheffield. If you are a carer and would like to join us, please email carers@sheffield.gov.uk.