Public reports pack PDF 6 MB - East Lindsey District Council

Horncastle Area Committee4.04.2011Ms Sarah Oliver, Carers’ Lead at Lincolnshire County Council, thankedMembers for their kind invitation and introduced John Wood, Adult Carerand Charlotte Stanley as Young Adult Carers. She informed Members thataround 1 in 6 people in the community were carers, but many did notconsider themselves to be as they were caring for a spouse or elderlyparent if they were adults or for a parent or sibling if they were children ofschool age. Members were also informed it was anticipated that thenumber of carers in the County would increase dramatically in the nextcensus which was due to be carried out in March 2011, as thequestionnaire for the previous census did not ask specifically about carers.According to current statistics, there were around 66,000 registeredcarers in the County.Members noted that, as a result of the work of the Lincolnshire Carers’Partnership, many carers in the community were able to accessinformation and support to help them with their role on a day-to-daybasis. Ms Oliver showed Members the Information Pack and newsletterthat could be accessed freely to help carers manage their personalsituation and possibly avoid a crisis.Mr John Wood, Carer, continued the presentation by informing Membersthat carers could be taken for granted, sometimes by those they cared forbut also by the community at large. This situation meant that manycarers struggled to cope, especially those young carers who were atschool and studying for exams, for example. Mr Wood informed Membersthat the existence of the Partnership had helped many people and therewas now improved access to assessments of home situations and supportfollow-ups by the Lincolnshire Carers’ Team.Mr Wood concluded by informing Members that public awareness of therole of the carer was being raised by attendance at such Meetings as theHorncastle Area Committee and other organisations. However, Members’noted that carers depended on the support from the County Council andthe District Council to make their needs known to the community at large,especially the 440 registered young carers in the district.Charlotte Stanley, young adult carer, then presented her views on thesupport they had received from the Lincolnshire Carers’ Partnership andstressed that without this help they would not have been able to succeedin their education and continue to study at the present time. Charlottehad been caring since the age of 5 and was a Member of the LincolnshirePartnership Group, which met every quarter. The group invitedprofessionals to the meetings by way of accessing further help and adviceand progressing the partnership.The Group was also working towards being a part of the Healthy SchoolsAgenda. Charlotte informed Members that awareness was essential whenyoung carers were faced difficult situations, particularly in school. MsOliver continued and advised that the Lincolnshire Carers’ Partnership hadcompiled a list of the schools in the County that supported a Carers’ Groupor that had staff that supported young carers. Although a good number ofHAC 3Page 183