A carer is someone who helps a family member, friend or neighbour to look after themselves. These webpages explain how adult social care services may be able to help carers.
What support is available
Young carers
Caring for disabled children
Carers' strategy
Telling people you are a carer
Useful links
More information
Many people don't see themselves as carers. They think of themselves as family members or friends. As a result, they often don't realise that that there is help and support available to them.
A carer is someone who looks after a family member, partner, friend or neighbour who has a disability or other difficulty, including:
- frailty as a result of old age
- physical or sensory disability or long-term illness
- learning disabilities
- mental health difficulties
- drug or alcohol problems.
The sort of support that is available for carers could include things like:
- providing support during the daytime
- arranging and providing home care help
- finding a more suitable home for the person you care for
- providing and arranging residential care
Day-to-day support services could allow you to go to work or take a break during the day.
Services for carers can also help when the person you care for needs specialist care or a substantial amount of looking after.
To find out what services could benefit you, please contact us.
Young people who regularly look after a family member sometimes don’t think of themselves as carers. As a result, they may not realise that there is help and support available to them.
If a young person is caring for a family member, it can be hard for them to keep up with schoolwork and have a life of their own.
We understand this and try to support young carers as much as possible with specialised help and advice.
Click here to visit our webpage on young carers for more information.
The Access Point (TAP) is a single point of contact for disabled children/young people, parents/ carers and professionals in Leicester. The website's aim is to enable you to access short break activities and other support services. Click here to visit The Access Point.
We have a Carers' Strategy which sets out how we aim to help carers in Leicester. It includes points such as:
- ensuring that carers are identified early on so that they can get help right from the beginning
- ensuring that carers’ needs are considered in other strategies the council develops
- ensuring that carers get the right help and advice.
Click here to read the Carers’ Strategy.
You should always inform a doctor or nurse involved in the care of the person you look after that you are a carer.
Because of confidentiality rules, there might be limits on how much they can tell you about the condition of the person you care for, but they should always consider your needs - for example, when the person you care for is coming out of hospital.
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Carers UK – National organisation, led by carers, aiming to improve carer's lives.
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The Carers Centre - working with and supporting carers in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
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Barnardo’s CareFree Project - offers practical and emotional support services to young carers in the Leicester area.
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DirectGov - central government website with lots of information for carers.
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LAMP Direct - local community mental health site with information for carers.
Leicester City Council is not responsible for the content of external websites.
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