The borough has recently published a new Adults and Young Carers Strategy. The strategy which will run until 2028 was developed with carers and will help support a range of carer-friendly policies and activities over the next 5 years.
The framework for how the borough, and its partners, intend to support carers of all ages is outlined in the strategy, which is a declaration of the boroughs commitment to carers and young carers in Barnet. Supporting carers and young carers has been defined as a priority for the council and the NHS, and supporting unpaid carers is one of the objectives included in the council’s manifesto.
The strategy supports the Barnet Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Barnet’s Children and Young People’s Plan and Child and Family Early Help Strategy, and the Adult Social Care Reform priorities for unpaid carers. It has been developed with the direct involvement of over three hundred Barnet Carers through the co-production and engagement work led by our commissioned provider, Barnet Carers Centre, and in partnership with colleagues across the Council, Health, and the voluntary sector.
The strategy will help the council to carry out its duties to support carers in their caring role. This includes helping to prevent young carers from carrying out inappropriate caring and ensuring that carers of all ages can achieve the outcomes that they desire.
Enabling carers helps to support and promote the independence of people with care and support needs. This means considering the needs of carers at various times in their caring role, such as providing support early on, support to maintain care, and support at the end of a caring role or, when moving from Family Services to Adult Social Care.
The next step is to translate this strategy into action so that it makes a real and lasting difference to the lives of carers of all ages.
