Carers
Wellbeing Guide 2024
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Are you a carer?
We're here to help
Adult Carers Referral Form
Young Carers Self Referral Form
Young Carers Professional Referral Form
telford and wrekin
all age carers centre
we care because you care
We need your support
The emotional and physical cost of caring for a relative or friend, although often spent willingly, with love and commitment, can restrict choices for carers to live their own lives to the full and the importance of what they do is often not properly recognised or valued.
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Their caring role can sometimes last a lifetime.
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We are there to identify as many carers as possible who live in the borough and support them on their carers journey, however long or short, and whether they are a child of 5 or an adult of 95.
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We need you to help us help them have the life they deserve.
Some facts and figures
Locally:
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In Telford and Wrekin there are estimated to be around 18,000 unpaid family and friend carers (10.8% of the population)
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One quarter of these provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care per week
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The All Age Carers Centre has around 5,000 carers, of all ages, registered and eligible for support
Nationally:
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The economic value of the contribution made by unpaid carers in the UK is £132bn a year
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68% of young carers nationally are bullied in school
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There are 50,000 children and young people looking after someone with mental ill health in the UK
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Young adult carers are twice as likely to not be in education, employment or training
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45% of young adult carers report that they have mental health problems
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Over 60% of older carers say that being a carer has an adverse effect on their mental and physical health
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There are 4.27 million carers of working age living in the UK
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Nearly one in eight of those in work is a carer and one in five has given up their job to care
Fundraising for the All Age Carers Centre is a fantastic way to get involved with us and provides us with an essential source of income. Without the wonderful support we receive from kind and generous individuals and organisations, we wouldn't be able to continue offering the wide range of vital services that benefit young, young adult and adult carers so greatly, providing a constant outstretched helping hand with information, advice, guidance, face-to-face support and respite.
We are very grateful for any donation given to support us as a respected local charity. Every donation will be used for frontline carer support.
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From sitting in a bath of baked beans, to climbing mountains and running (or dancing) marathons, our fundraisers have such brilliant ideas!
You may want to gift us the funeral collection of a loved one, or you may formally wish to leave a legacy to us in
your Will
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We welcome building a mutually beneficial partnership with you - whether you are a sole trader or a large organisation with your own corporate social responsibility programme
Make a donation
People are so kind and generous - over any year we receive a variety of donations, usually out of the blue, so they are nearly always a wonderful surprise and we immediately have excited conversations about how the carers can best benefit from the money given!
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Everything we provide, every aspect of frontline support - from youth club sessions or one-off trips for young carers to wellbeing sessions for adults, volunteer befriending or phone friend support - is helped by public gifting, whether a few or a few hundred pounds.
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Sometimes donations are anonymously given but if we can we like to thank those who give personally, perhaps taking a photo or two for our social media pages, website or "Caring Matters" magazine and talking about what the donation will be used for. If you are a business see more in our Business Sponsorship section about how we can build a mutually beneficial relationship.
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2020 DonorsWe launched our Covid19 Appeal in April 2020 to help support our carers during this difficult time. BuschUK Shropshire Royal British Legion D. Silcock Severn Harmony Madeley Academy Telford Junior Youth Football Veolia High and Mighty Ukuele Club Wooden Spoon Co-operative Local Community Fund Rotary Club of Ironbridge and Severn Groge Rotary Club of Wellington Rotary Club Telford Central St Georges and Priorslee Parish Council Vinci GKN Greenfields Farm Shop Lee Wood Provincial Grand Lodge of Shropshire (Masons) St John's Lodge (Masons) Lady Forrester Trust Protolabs Inner Wheel of Ironbridge Inner Wheel of Wrekin Great Dawley Council Wellington Town Council Youth Endowment Fund ASDA Sainsburys Forge Retail Park Morrisons Wellington Energize Various donations through VirginMoneyGiving
Hold an event
Memory giving
Fundraisers have brillliant ideas about raising money for us through specific events - we've had supporters running marathons, all sorts of sponsored climbing challenges from The Wrekin to the Three Peaks, coffee mornings, school book sales, raffles, pub Fun Days, sponsored Zumba marathon, bucket collections at supermarkets - the list is long! Then we have those who give 'in kind' - tickets for Circus Starr or for the annual pantomime for example, or Christmas presents. If you have an idea, get in touch and we can provide you with marketing items like logos, posters, banners etc. to help with your fundraising for us!
Business sponsorship
We welcome support from all local businesses. Broadly carers needs are two-fold:
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Funding or 'in kind' donations to enable us to give them effective frontline support.
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Kind, caring and enabling volunteers as valued members of the team in all areas.
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We fully understand a business may have their own ideas on how they might want to help us and we suggest broad option areas, to allow for flexibility and choice, including as follows:
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Giving a donation
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Giving an 'in kind' gift such as tickets/vouchers for theatre, cinema, spa sessions, meals out etc.
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Sponsoring practical/emotional support courses and training for individuals or groups of carers, such as bereavement, manual handling, relaxation/ meditation etc.
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Helping to sponsor a specific crucial frontline area - activities/befriending/phone friends/schools/taxis etc
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Holding an employee-led fundraising event
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Holding employee-led fundraising event with carers attending
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Employee-led volunteer teams carrying out a specific mutually agreed project
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Employees volunteering as activities assistants, befrienders, phone friends, business champions, backroom technical project support etc (this might be for short, fixed periods of time).
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See our Business Sponsorship guidance notes (available shortly) for more information about how we can build a mutually beneficial partnership.​
Over the years, a significant number of people have been in touch with us about a loved one, who has especially requested, usually informally, for a donation to be given to us after they have passed away. Relatives and friends tell us it gives them a positive feeling, knowing they have complied with their loved one's wishes, and we feel very pleased to make such a sad time a little easier, by using their donation to help others who need support. Sometimes this is now managed within a JustGiving or VirginMoneyGiving account.
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A legacy is a more formal donation left to us in a Will. It is a lasting gift, from those who feel passionate about family carers to continue their support into the future. They may have been a carer themselves. We greatly value this type of donation, and like all gifts given to us, any amount is appreciated and used carefully to benefit carers in the most effective way. For more information about this type of donation, see our Legacy Guidance Notes (available shortly).
