Below are some of the things that an unpaid carer might do for the cared for person, however, often unpaid carers are carrying out many of these tasks all at once:

• Attend appointments
• Hospital visits
• Provide emotional support
• Housework
• Keeping someone safe
• Medication
• Providing medical care at home, for example, home oxygen therapy or enteral feeding
• Personal care
• Phone calls
• Attending health and social care meetings
• Shopping

Young people may also be carers if they provide (or intend to provide) care for another person and are under the age of 18, or 18 and over but still attending school.

Carers do not have to:

• live with the person they care for
• be the only carer
• be related to the person they care for

You may not immediately recognise yourself as a carer for a number of reasons, such as you may be a relative, partner, or friend of the person you are caring for. In other cases, the person you care for may have a condition that has gradually worsened, with their care needs increasing over time.

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force on 1 April 2018, introducing new legal duties and a range of provisions to help better identify, include, and support carers.

The Act gives all unpaid carers rights to an adult carer support plan (ACSP) or young carer statement (YCS) to identify each unpaid carer’s personal outcomes and needs for support.

The aim is to

• plan ahead
• think of personal outcomes
• have this recorded to share when engaging in health and social services

The Act also states that carers

• have a right to support to meet any ‘eligible needs’
• have a right to be involved in services
• have a right to be involved in the hospital discharge process of the person they are or are going to be caring for

Carers’ Charter

• Carers’ charter – The charter will help carers understand their rights under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.

Future Care Planning

• Visit NHS inform website: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/decisions-about-care/future-care-planning/

Anticipatory Care Planning

• Visit: https://www.carerstogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/my-anticipatory-care-plan.pdf

Create an emergency plan

What would happen if you couldn’t be there for the person you care for? Having an emergency plan in place means that if you are unable to fulfil your caring role, such as becoming ill or a family emergency, practical arrangements for short-term unplanned periods can be put in place.

• Visit: Emergency Planning Toolkit

• Adult Carers Support Plan
• Hospital Discharge
• Short Breaks
• Adult Carers Support Plan – ‘Adult Carers’ over the age of 18 and living in Lanarkshire can request an Adult Carer Support Plan from either Lanarkshire Carers or your local Social Work office in North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire.
• Young Carers Statement – ‘Young Carers’ under the age of 18, are 18 and still in school and living in Lanarkshire can request a Young Carer Statement from Action for Children’s Young Carer Services in North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire or your local Social Work office in North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire.

• Hospital Discharge

• • Getting Better Together Shotts Community Liaison Service  provides 3rd sector discharge support to North Lanarkshire residents age 16+ and their carers, in hospitals and NHS sites across Lanarkshire.
  • Lanarkshire Carers  can support you through hospital discharge by providing information on resources like the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 which requires hospitals to involve you in the planning process.
• Short Breaks
  You can find out more about short breaks for carers by accessing information from your local authority or local carers centre.If you care for someone living in Lanarkshire but you live elsewhere you should request an Adult Carer Support Plan or Young Carer Statement from the local Social Work office where the person you care for lives.

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire Carers

Works with and for carers to develop and deliver services that make a positive difference to their lives.

• Phone: 01698 428090
• Email: info@lanarkshirecarers.org.uk
• https://lanarkshirecarers.org.uk/

North Lanarkshire Carers Together

Provide a range of services for carers who live in North Lanarkshire and the professional partners who encounter carers.

• Phone: 01698 404055
• Email: enquiries@carerstogether.org
• https://www.carerstogether.org/

North Lanarkshire Young Carers – Action for Children

Raise awareness, identify and provide direct support to children and young people who look after or help to look after someone in their family who is unwell or disabled, including children caring for parents who have mental health or substance misuse problems.

• Phone: 01698 337607
• https://www.northlanarkshireyoungcarers.org/

South Lanarkshire Young Carers – Action for Children

Raise awareness, identify and provide direct support to children and young people who look after or help to look after someone in their family who is unwell or disabled, including children caring for parents who have mental health or substance misuse problems.

• Phone: 01698 891385
• https://www.southlanarkshireyoungcarers.org/

National

• Carers Trust – https://carers.org/
• Carers UK – https://www.carersuk.org/
• Care Information Scotland – https://www.careinfoscotland.scot/
• Alzheimer Scotland – https://www.alzscot.org/community-support/carer-support/

The following video gives information on support for Carers in South Lanarkshire in BSL and is subtitled.

For more information about deaf services in North Lanarkshire you can contact Deaf Services Lanarkshire.

The Importance of Advocacy for Carers and the people you support

Advocacy plays a vital role in helping to protect and support people who may be at risk of being treated unfairly because of their personal, social, or environmental circumstances.

Caring for someone can be challenging, and sometimes carers themselves need a bit of extra support. Independent advocacy can make a real difference — helping you to have your voice heard, understand your rights, and feel more confident when dealing with health and social care, and other professionals.

Whether it’s about getting the right information, speaking up in meetings, or making sure your views and the views of the person you care for are listened to, advocacy can be there to support you every step of the way.

Carers should be recognised and treated as Equal Partners in Care with other care and support providers. This means being involved in decisions affecting the person they care for and engaged in decisions about the development of /or changes to services in their area.

Guidance for Unpaid Carers

Carers Scotland has a self-advocacy guide for carers called Being Heard which provides information and suggests way to help carers advocate for themselves.

The Scottish Government has also published guidance for Unpaid Carers and is intended for use by independent advocacy organisations, independent advocates, carer advocacy projects and carer advocacy workers to support a wide understanding of the role and boundaries of advocacy for carers. They envisage that it will also be helpful to carers in both understanding best practice as well as sign-posting them towards self-advocacy techniques.

Local Advocacy Services

• Advocacy for Adults – Equal Say Advocacy.
• Advocacy for Children and Young People – Who Cares Scotland.
• The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance can also help you to find an independent advocate, or give more information on what advocacy is.
• ALISS – A Local Information System for Scotland.

There are a number of benefits and grants that you or the person you are caring for may be eligible for. To find out more visit:

• Mygov.scot – https://www.mygov.scot/browse/benefits/carers

You can also contact your local carers centre for more information on local grants and funding options.

Free and confidential Money, Benefits and Debt Advice can be accessed at:

• Money Matters Advice Service for South Lanarkshire residents
• Tackling Poverty Team for North Lanarkshire residents
• Or contact your local Citizens Advice Scotland

NHS Lanarkshire is at ‘Engaged’ level of the Carer Positive scheme, a Scottish Government-funded initiative that encourages employers to provide a supportive working environment for staff with caring responsibilities.

NHS Lanarkshire was awarded recognition within the Carer Positive initiative, demonstrating their commitment to supporting employees who juggle paid work with their roles.

We recognise that some staff have caring responsibilities and are balancing work with looking after family members or friends. We will continue to promote our Carer Positive approach to help support and retain these staff. You can view the Special Leave Policy | NHS Scotland to understand more about leave entitlements.

Further support and information can be accessed from:

• NHS Lanarkshire Spiritual care team Staff Care and Wellbeing | NHS Lanarkshire
• National Wellbeing Hub Home – National Wellbeing Hub
• Carer Services and Information

Carers frequently experience money worries due to reduced working hours, increased costs associated with caring, and inadequate benefit payments, leading to financial hardship, debt, and anxiety.

Money advice can be accessed for:

• South Lanarkshire residents at Money Matters Advice Service – South Lanarkshire Council
• North Lanarkshire residents at Benefits and money | North Lanarkshire Council

For outwith these areas contact your local authority money advice team.

Equal Partners In Care – (EPiC) is a learning resources which enables health and social care staff to identify, support and work with carers as equal partners.

• https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/19211