Personal injury team supports Carers Week 2014, 9-15 June

Posted: 09/06/2014

Carers Week is a UK-wide annual campaign run by Carers UK. Its aim is to improve the lives of family carers and the people for whom they care by raising awareness of the level of voluntary, largely unpaid, care provided to those with physical and mental health support needs by their friends and families – and the lack of statutory support and funding.

This year Carers Week will launch Quest, an exciting new initiative to encourage organisations and individuals to improve collaborative working in local communities to reach out to the thousands of carers in the UK who are currently missing out on practical, emotional and financial services and support.

It is estimated that one in eight adults in the UK act as carers, looking after a friend or family member who is facing illness, disability or frailty. That means 6.5 million people are offering unpaid care to a loved one, often round-the-clock, usually to the detriment of their personal and working lives and sometimes to the detriment of their own health.

Campaigners such as Carers UK say that carers are not getting the support they need to keep looking after the people they love and the purpose of Carers Week is to highlight what they do, identify those who act as voluntary carers and try and source additional support.

Philippa Luscombe, partner in the personal injury team at Penningtons Manches LLP, said: “Carers are an integral part in the aid and assistance that people suffering from illness and disability need on a daily basis. We see a number of individuals who have devastating injuries and long term disability and require long term care.  While a large part may be provided by employed care funded by statutory services or through an injury claim, in our experience a significant amount or all of such care is often provided by friends or family members. This is often a big strain on the caring individual(s) and anything that raises awareness of what they do and the support available to help them with their caring role has got to be positive.”

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