Become a carer-friendly employer

There are about 1 million carers in Norfolk. Around a third of carers combine caring for a loved one with paid work.

Norfolk's carers need our support and practical help. We want to help Norfolk's employers become more carer friendly.

What your organisation can do

Adopt the Norfolk Carers' Charter

We launched the Norfolk Carers' Charter in November 2018. It was written by carers for carers. It sets out the support carers should be able to expect from:

Their employer
Their school, college, or place of learning
Norfolk County Council and other local support services

Read the Norfolk Carers' Charter

Apply for the Carer Friendly Tick

You can make your carer-friendly status official by applying for a Carer Friendly Tick Award.

Carer Friendly Tick Awards are given to organisations that make sure carers they work with are easily identified and properly supported.

To earn the Carer Friendly Tick Award for Employers, you'll need to meet five standards:

Have a named member of staff as a leader for carers
Have a carers' statement to ensure carers know how to access support within your organisation
Ensure managers have an understanding about carers' responsibilities
Signpost to information and advice for carers
Raise awareness in Carers Week and on Carers Rights Day

The Carer Friendly Tick is organised by Caring Together. They can give you free support to help you apply for and earn your award.

Find out more about the Carer Friendly Tick

Create a supportive culture

Some members of staff may not identify themselves as carers. Most will only identify themselves where they feel supported to do so.

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) shared these top tips for supporting working carers:

Get to know which of your employees are working carers
Identify leaders for working carers within your organisation
Develop and review your workplace support and policies to ensure that they are flexible, responsive and explicitly support working carers
Ensure that support is in place and is clearly communicated to all staff
Equip your mangers to support working carers and make sure they do so
Create opportunities for working carers to support one another
Ensure job opportunities and promotions are flexible and support applications from working carers
Monitor, evaluate and review your approaches to supporting working carers
Communicate clearly that you are a carer-friendly employer, and what additional support you offer

You can download a leaflet on how to support working carers, which has been produced by ADASS.

Raise awareness of carers in the workplace

The care of an ill, older or disabled loved one is often just a part of life for many people. Those providing this care may not even identify as a carer, remaining unaware of what support is available to them both inside and outside of work.

By raising awareness of carers within your workplace, this may help your employees to identify themselves as carers and find out about support available to them and the person they care for.

Why caring for carers is good for business

Analysis from Age UK shows that an estimated £5.3bn a year is lost from the economy in earnings due to people leaving the workforce to take on caring responsibilities for older or disabled loved ones.

Supporting carers to work makes good business sense. Carers have unique skills gained through their caring roles; they are flexible, resourceful and resilient.

Carers don't want to be a special case - they want understanding and support from employers which helps them do their job well and continue their caring responsibilities.

The Government's Supporting working carers report highlights the economic and social benefits of supporting carers in the workplace. They include:

An increase in staff morale and loyalty
Better staff retention
A reduction in sick leave and absenteeism
An improvement in staff engagement
Improved people management
More effective team working
Improved service delivery
Increased productivity
Reduced recruitment and training costs
A greater ability to attract staff
Cost savings achieved