Welcome to another blog by former mental health carer Matthew Mckenzie. I run many carer forums and support groups for half of London aimed at those caring for someone suffering mental ill health.

I am also an author of the books A Caring Mind and my newly released book “Experiencing mental health caregiving – unpaid carers”. I do not often do videos that much, because I am so busy writing something, but did you know Novemember the 25th is Carers rights day?

For the video version of this blog, please watch below.

Well before I talk more about that, lets understand what a carer is first. When I say carer, I often mean unpaid carers and of course caring for someone you love and are connected to should be the pinnicle of what makes a caring community, but with caring comes added strain and stress, especially with the pressures on health and social care.

So with those added pressures, it is important unpaid carers know their rights. This is just one of the reasons unpaid carers and those that work with them should pay attention to Carers Rights day 2021.

The whole idea of carer’s rights day is

• Making carers aware of their rights
• Letting carers know where to get help and support
• Raising awareness of the needs of carers

So under the carers rights act 2014.

Carers have the rights to

• A choice as to how your personal budget is managed.
• A personal budget to meet any ‘eligible needs’
• Be helped to develop a carer’s support plan Have an assessment of your own needs as a carer (either jointly with the person you care for or separately)
• Have your say if you are no longer prepared to care, or are not prepared to do an element of caring
• Have your views taken into consideration by health and social care services when supporting or treating the person you care for
• Specific advice and information for carers that you can understand

Of course There is no legal obligation to be a carer as unpaid Carers have the right to choose to provide care.

However it is also important that most people are compelled to care because of experiences with a health & social care system under strain. So if you are an unpaid carer and even if you miss out on carers rights day, then please check out the links below my video.

Its never to late to know your carers rights