Carers UK and Carers Trust are pleased to be continuing their roles as members of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, set up by the Government, to ensure the lived experiences of unpaid carers and the services that support them are reflected in its development of health and care policy.

The Government’s relaunch of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance will see the charities working with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Improvement and Public Health England to support collaborative working between the statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of carers.

Carers UK and Carers Trust – as the Carers Partnership - will remain members of the Alliance for the next three years, working together to bring carers’ voices and experiences into national policy development and delivery, as well as supporting better practice locally.

Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said:

“We are delighted to be part of the Alliance again. Our membership enables us to regularly highlight to policy makers the unique health and care challenges carers are experiencing - and the specific support they need from Government and the NHS to improve their lives. This has been particularly crucial during the pandemic as carers have taken on more care for loved ones and had their physical and mental health impacted.

“As we build back from COVID, it is more vital than ever that unpaid carers’ experiences are properly considered in the Government’s health and care policies. We are excited to be working with Carers Trust to ensure their voices are heard.”

Joe Levenson, Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs Carers Trust, said:

“Carers Trust is delighted that the Government is relaunching the Alliance. The Alliance provides a strategic partnership that brings together a range of organisations who, together, are able to achieve more for carers than they could working alone. It also provides much-needed funding for our work to support carers.

“The work we undertake alongside Carers Trust’s Network of 98 local support services for carers in England gives us deep insight into the acute challenges experienced by carers. Those challenges have never been more acute than now. The pandemic has resulted in carers providing even more care to family members due to lockdown and the closure of essential services.

“We look forward to working with Carers UK and the Alliance to make sure these very real challenges are both understood by Government and acted on, by setting up systems most likely to deliver what carers want, and need.”