Welcome to the Carers Charter – North East Lincolnshire

What is the Carer Friendly Certificate?

Become a certified Carer Friendly Employer by showing your commitment to supporting carers in your workplace.

To achieve the award there are 8 simple things that need to be in place and demonstrated within your organisation.

Creating a Carer Friendly workplace helps your staff to balance work and care. With the right support, working Carers will be happier, healthier and more engaged, and more likely to stay within your organisation.  Recruiting is expensive in resources and in time, so why not take this step towards improving retention?

There are so many benefits in becoming a Carer Friendly Employer and we’d love to talk to you about how we can help you to become one.

One key benefit is a greater ability to attract staff. 80% of carers are of working age and will potentially prefer to work for an organisation where they feel visible, valued and supported.

Employers benefit from: improved staff retention less staff sickness and absenteeism reduced barriers to recruitment happier, healthier more productive staff improved people management more effective team working improved service delivery reduced recruitment and training costs

What it means for organisations involved

North East Lincolnshire Council

We carers play and will continue to play a crucial role in supporting our residents and the people that we care for. That's why it's important that the Carers Centre is creating this accreditation scheme to enable employers to participate, to support their working carers and develop their caring workforce.
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Navigo – Mental health provider

As an organisation, we are committed to delivering services we would be happy for our family to receive. By creating a carer friendly workplace, we aim to attract and retain a talented workforce whilst realising the organisational and social benefits of supporting our carers.
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How do we qualify?

Here are the actions you need to take to qualify:

  • You have provided staff with information about who carers are, the issues they face and support available to them.
  • This information is also included in the induction of all new staff and volunteers throughout the workforce.
  • All staff within the organisation are asked at commencement of employment and at annual reviews if they have
  • caring responsibilities that they would like to make the organisation aware of. Although disclosure of caring responsibilities will be encouraged, it must be optional.
  • All identified carers within the workforce are offered an individual support plan which is recorded and reviewed at intervals agreed between the employee and their manager.
  • The organisation has implemented a standalone ‘Carers Policy’ for staff and a member of management is allocated with the responsibility for updating and implementing the policy.
  • A member of management within the service is assigned as a ‘Senior Carer Lead,’ responsible for ensuring that carers are considered and championed within the organisation.
  • Carers are consulted with and listened to about matters within the workplace that affect them. This must be open to all staff and include the option to respond anonymously, to capture carers who have not yet disclosed their caring role.

Read more about the process here…

What this means for carers

Carer 4 – a difficult caring role

The flexibility they offer around my role, so that I can manage these difficult periods, helps to keep me productive in my work and without this support I really think that I may be physically present at work but I certainly would not be mentally.
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Carer 3 – workplace performance

My manager did protected me from incoming work so that I was better able to focus on what I already had. I am still in the band I was then, and slowly moving into a better mental position regarding my role.
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Carer 2 – multiple caring roles

And that was what we did. I would have tried to carry on working – as it was, even with all her support, I felt guilty for a good few days – and if I had continued to work, my mental health might have taken a far more serious and permanent turn. Instead, I was able to focus on my husband and son and also, importantly, myself. I was able to sleep and to plan in some important health visits for my son that’d been building and worrying me. I was supported by my employer to avoid a carer crisis and I’m very grateful.
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Carer 1 – Crisis Situation

I can honestly say that if I had not had these accommodations – specifically the leave – I would not be working for my organisation now. While the other aspects of support were wonderful for supporting me and making me aware I was valued, the practical element of being able to do what I needed to do with regards to helping my mother, without juggling all the other balls that work would have required, was the absolute necessity. My company didn’t make me choose between my mother and them.
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