Norfolk Carers' Charter

Norfolk Carers' Charter has been produced by carers and councillors working together. We've set out the Charter principles and pledges in the sections below.

It has three key strands:

Carers in work
Young carers in education
Carers in the community, which includes parent carers

We want everyone to #ThinkCarers and support the thousands of people who are unpaid carers across the county.

The Norfolk Carers' Charter is set out below. See the Carers Charter Progress Report for 2020-21 (PDF) [1MB].

Carers in work

These are carer friendly practices employers should put in place to help and support employees with caring roles.

Principles

Supporting carers is good for employers and for carers.
Carers should be helped and supported by their employer to stay in work.
The unique skills carers gain through their caring role should be recognised and valued in the workplace.

Carers have a right to expect:

Employers who adopt carer friendly practices.
A carers policy that is easy to access and helps them balance their wellbeing, work and caring.
Managers who are well trained and skilled to talk with carers about their caring roles and take suitable action to meet carers' needs.
Employers that have a positive approach that helps carers identify themselves and understand the help and support available to them.

Norfolk County Council will:

Develop HR staff and managers to make sure they are empowered to talk about caring with staff and make suitable changes to meet carers' needs.
Work with carers through Norfolk County Council's Carers Advisory Board and connect carers to help and support services.
Maintain and promote NCC's Carer Friendly Tick accreditation and work with other employers to encourage them to sign up to the Carer Friendly Tick (Employer) and become models of good practice.

Young carers and young adult carers in education

This is the support that schools and other places of learning, including colleges, sixth forms, universities and training providers, could provide.

Principles:

Young carers are children and young people first.
Schools' ambitions for young carers and young adult carers should be the same as for all students.
Schools should consider the overall health and wellbeing, not just the education needs, of young carers and young adult carers.
Schools should make sure that young carers and young adult carers have equal access to the same opportunities as other students both in and out of school.

Young carers and young adult carers have a right to expect:

Help and support from schools to succeed in their studies, take part fully in school life and reach their full potential through raising their aspirations from an early age and offering practical help and support.
Staff are well trained and skilled in identifying young carers and young adult carers and talking with them to help them access the right help and support.
A clear policy for young carers, young adult carers and their families. This policy should enable young carers and young adult carers to succeed in their education.
Information in school on what being a young carer or young adult carer means and the help and support available. This information should be easy to access and available in different formats.

Norfolk County Council is committed to:

Driving improvements in the quality of information collected and used by schools about young carers and young adult carers and their needs.
Actively promoting and creating an expectation that education providers will achieve the Carer Friendly Tick (Education) Award, which was developed by young carers as part of Caring Together's Norfolk Young Carers Forum project.
Working with other services to identify where young carers and young adult carers are in educational establishments, how they are performing educationally, and work to understand and remove any barriers to progressing that work.

Carers in the community

This is the support that Norfolk County Council can offer, or be part of, to help all carers access their local community and support services.

Principles:

Carers are people first. It's essential that carers have the opportunity for a life outside of caring.
Carers are, and should be recognised as, the experts in their own lives.
Carers must have a voice and be helped and supported to achieve what matters to them.

Carers have a right to expect:

A dialogue with Norfolk County Council or one of our service providers that helps and supports carers to explore what they want to achieve in life and how this could happen.
Access to help and support even if they seem to be coping. Carers should not have to be at a crisis point to be heard.
Health and social care organisations, voluntary groups and communities that are carer friendly and work to link carers to support networks and services.
Clear, easy to find, jargon-free information about carers' rights and help, support and services available to them.

Norfolk County Council is committed to:

Ensuring there is help and support available for all carers, including parent carers, so they can maintain or improve their health and wellbeing.
Promoting carer friendly organisations and working with our health and district council partners to help identify carers, particularly carers with disabilities, carers of a black, Asian or other minority ethnic background and LGBT+ carers, who may experience barriers to accessing services.
Reaching out to and hearing the voices of all carers, raising the profile of carers and valuing their contribution. As part of this, making sure that we connect carers with each other and carers' support groups.
Involving carers to educate our social care workforce in carer awareness, so they know how to identify carers and what help and support we, and others, can offer.
Making information and advice easier to access and simpler to use so carers can find out about the support available. Making sure there are a variety of ways to access any information, not just online.

Norfolk Carers' Charter has been produced by carers and councillors working together. We've set out the Charter principles and pledges in the sections below.

It has three key strands:

Carers in work
Young carers in education
Carers in the community, which includes parent carers

We want everyone to #ThinkCarers and support the thousands of people who are unpaid carers across the county.

The Norfolk Carers' Charter is set out below. See the Carers Charter Progress Report for 2020-21 (PDF) [1MB].

Carers in work

These are carer friendly practices employers should put in place to help and support employees with caring roles.

Principles

Supporting carers is good for employers and for carers.
Carers should be helped and supported by their employer to stay in work.
The unique skills carers gain through their caring role should be recognised and valued in the workplace.

Carers have a right to expect:

Employers who adopt carer friendly practices.
A carers policy that is easy to access and helps them balance their wellbeing, work and caring.
Managers who are well trained and skilled to talk with carers about their caring roles and take suitable action to meet carers' needs.
Employers that have a positive approach that helps carers identify themselves and understand the help and support available to them.

Norfolk County Council will:

Develop HR staff and managers to make sure they are empowered to talk about caring with staff and make suitable changes to meet carers' needs.
Work with carers through Norfolk County Council's Carers Advisory Board and connect carers to help and support services.
Maintain and promote NCC's Carer Friendly Tick accreditation and work with other employers to encourage them to sign up to the Carer Friendly Tick (Employer) and become models of good practice.

Young carers and young adult carers in education

This is the support that schools and other places of learning, including colleges, sixth forms, universities and training providers, could provide.

Principles:

Young carers are children and young people first.
Schools' ambitions for young carers and young adult carers should be the same as for all students.
Schools should consider the overall health and wellbeing, not just the education needs, of young carers and young adult carers.
Schools should make sure that young carers and young adult carers have equal access to the same opportunities as other students both in and out of school.

Young carers and young adult carers have a right to expect:

Help and support from schools to succeed in their studies, take part fully in school life and reach their full potential through raising their aspirations from an early age and offering practical help and support.
Staff are well trained and skilled in identifying young carers and young adult carers and talking with them to help them access the right help and support.
A clear policy for young carers, young adult carers and their families. This policy should enable young carers and young adult carers to succeed in their education.
Information in school on what being a young carer or young adult carer means and the help and support available. This information should be easy to access and available in different formats.

Norfolk County Council is committed to:

Driving improvements in the quality of information collected and used by schools about young carers and young adult carers and their needs.
Actively promoting and creating an expectation that education providers will achieve the Carer Friendly Tick (Education) Award, which was developed by young carers as part of Caring Together's Norfolk Young Carers Forum project.
Working with other services to identify where young carers and young adult carers are in educational establishments, how they are performing educationally, and work to understand and remove any barriers to progressing that work.

Carers in the community

This is the support that Norfolk County Council can offer, or be part of, to help all carers access their local community and support services.

Principles:

Carers are people first. It's essential that carers have the opportunity for a life outside of caring.
Carers are, and should be recognised as, the experts in their own lives.
Carers must have a voice and be helped and supported to achieve what matters to them.

Carers have a right to expect:

A dialogue with Norfolk County Council or one of our service providers that helps and supports carers to explore what they want to achieve in life and how this could happen.
Access to help and support even if they seem to be coping. Carers should not have to be at a crisis point to be heard.
Health and social care organisations, voluntary groups and communities that are carer friendly and work to link carers to support networks and services.
Clear, easy to find, jargon-free information about carers' rights and help, support and services available to them.

Norfolk County Council is committed to:

Ensuring there is help and support available for all carers, including parent carers, so they can maintain or improve their health and wellbeing.
Promoting carer friendly organisations and working with our health and district council partners to help identify carers, particularly carers with disabilities, carers of a black, Asian or other minority ethnic background and LGBT+ carers, who may experience barriers to accessing services.
Reaching out to and hearing the voices of all carers, raising the profile of carers and valuing their contribution. As part of this, making sure that we connect carers with each other and carers' support groups.
Involving carers to educate our social care workforce in carer awareness, so they know how to identify carers and what help and support we, and others, can offer.
Making information and advice easier to access and simpler to use so carers can find out about the support available. Making sure there are a variety of ways to access any information, not just online.