Recognise Your Rights this Carers Rights Day

Carers Rights Day is an annual event which this year takes place on Thursday 21st November.

This year’s theme is ‘recognising your rights’. The theme has been chosen to help highlight the need for carers to recognise and understand their rights. It’s just as important that carers know how to access their rights, and to challenge when they feel their rights are not being met.

Ten years ago, the Care Act and Children and Families Act was passed in England, giving carers of all ages legal rights. These include a right to assessment of carers’ needs, rights to involvement in hospital discharge, rights to support young carers transitioning from children’s to adult services and more recently, the right to up to one week’s carers leave a year.

We know, however, that in far too many cases, carers’ rights are still not being fulfilled.

If you’re a carer, it’s really important you know that you’re entitled to:

1. The right to ask your GP practice to identify you as a carer
2. Request a carer’s assessment
3. Be consulted when the person you care for is discharged from hospital
4. The right (and choice) to request a free flu jab
5. The right to unpaid leave from your employment
6. The right to request flexible working
7. Protection against discrimination or harassment

If you’re juggling work and caring, download our Working Carer Booklet which you can also check out below. If you feel like your employer is not supportive or does not understand your caring role, we can help them become more carer-friendly as part of our Carer Friendly Employer Program.