The Forward Carers team will be making their way down to London on Thursday 8 December to attend the Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) Awards celebration at the capital’s iconic Roundhouse.
The UK Social Enterprise Awards are the country’s biggest celebration of social enterprises recognising the best in the sector. We are thrilled to have been shortlisted in the Health and Social Care category demonstrating excellent vision and strategic direction, clear leadership and clear evidenced social, environmental and community impact.
We are shortlisted alongside: Care Opinion, Innovating Minds CIC, Nickel Support CIC, PPL and Lingo Flamingo in this category sponsored by Johnson & Johnson.
About Forward Carers
We are a social enterprise and CIC based in the West Midlands, working in health and social care since 2015. We’re on a mission to create Carer Friendly Communities, places that empower unpaid Carers to thrive in all areas of life and work.
We create and manage partnerships with other not-for-profits to deliver the highest quality Carer wellbeing support and services. Our largest service is Birmingham Carers Hub, a network of delivery partners supporting 18,000 Carers across diverse local communities. We also partner with the healthcare sector to improve recognition of and support for Carers via GP awareness raising, Carer Co-ordinators in hospitals and the development and distribution of the partner in care card that helps Carers to have a voice in the care of their loved-one in a healthcare setting.
As part of our Carer Friendly Communities programme, our photo ID Carers Card raises the profile of unpaid Carers and our work with employers aims to improve their recognition and support of employees who also juggle caring responsibilities at home. 100% of profits are reinvested into our mission.
The caring role can be incredibly demanding, up to 20% of Carers leave work, they experience higher than average stress, health inequalities, isolation and loneliness. Carers are at risk of burning out, so the right support for Carers is crucial from an ethical point of view and to reduce the impact on the social care system.
Our Work and Our Impact
We work to actively improve Carers overall wellbeing so that the Carer feels supported and ensures families can stay together. Our Carer Friendly Communities programme educates organisations, health providers and employers to understand and value Carers, so Carers can thrive. We’re part of the ICS development at the University Hospitals Birmingham Trust. We work with GPs to improve early identification of Carers. During the pandemic, we helped identify over 4,000 unpaid Carers eligible for the vaccine but not on GP register or Carers Allowance Database.
2021 Impact:
3,246 Carers registered
10,432 Supported
2353 Statutory Carer Assessments (under devolved authority)
917 Carer training sessions
6,497 Carers attended groups
£552,000 wellbeing grants
1,527 partner-in-care healthcare ID cards
98 organisations recognised as Carer Friendly
For every £1 invested in Forward Carers, we saved the health and social care system £11.67
Commenting on being shortlisted, Simon Fenton, Forward Carers CEO said, “We are thrilled to be a finalist in these prestigious awards that has recognised our hard work to support unpaid family Carers. We hope that this acknowledgement will also shine a light on the valuable contribution that family Carers make to society.”
