Carers of all ages in Bristol are invited to share their views in a survey, to help inform a new strategy for Carers Support Services in the city.

Bristol City Council is updating the strategy in partnership with carers, the NHS and other service providers. The findings from the survey will show the kind of support carers need, and how businesses and employers can be more aware of carers’ roles and the issues they may have.

You may not realise you are a carer, despite the unpaid work you do to support a friend or family member facing illness, disability, a mental health condition or addiction.

In taking on the physical and mental burden of caring, the carers themselves risk their own health and wellbeing. Many have to give up work, or find their education suffers; they may face money problems, too. Many feel isolated and stressed.

Here’s what we know about carers in Bristol:

• The 2011 census revealed there were 40,100 carers in Bristol, and 900 of them spent over 50 hours a week on caring for a friend or relative; by 2015, this had risen to 42,300 carers.
• Further research from Bristol Carers Support Centre in 2016, using ONS population update estimates, suggested there may be 7,600 young carers city-wide.
• Carers provide huge economic value locally. According to Carers UK research in 2015, the economic value of carers’ contributions in Bristol is £755.5 m per year - the highest in the South West.
• In the 2015 Bristol Pupil Voice survey, 46% of young carers said they had been bullied, a sharp increase compared to 28% of all children in Bristol who reported being bullied.

The survey closes on 19 January 2020. Click here to take part.

Useful resources

If you are a carer in need of support, these Voscur members can help:

• Bath & North East Somerset Carers’ Centre
• Bristol Black Carers
• Bristol Parent Carers
• Carers Support Centre Bristol and South Gloucestershire