To support unpaid carers in Moray to better cope with their caring role, have a greater awareness of their own health and wellbeing, and maintain more of a life of their own.
Our aims
• identify areas for support via an Adult Carer Support Plan or Young Carer Statement
• provide relevant, timely, accessible information and advice relevant to carers
• encourage and enable carers to have a life of their own
• increase resilience and ability to continue caring
Our core values
Context
Quarriers Carer Support Service (Moray) has held the contract to support carers since 2009.
In that time the number of carers registered has increased from 300 to over 1200, and the staff team grown from 6 to 10.
The current contract maintains identification of unpaid carers and support via:
• advice and information
• completion of ACSP and YCS
• emergency and future planning
• learning
• short break opportunities
• counselling
• emotional support
This report highlights the difference that support made to unpaid carers in Moray during 2023/24.
What is a carer?
An unpaid carer is someone who provides support to a family member or friend who can’t manage alone because of old age, frailty, disability, illness and or substance use.
Three in five of us are, or will be, a carer at some stage in our lives. Age is no barrier.
Not recognising themselves as carers means many people don’t seek help until they reach crisis.
13,500 adult carers =1,000
2,700 young carers
85% identify as female
46% are caring for more than 50 hours per week
32% have health issues or their caring prevents work
69% of carers are over the age of 46
Figures from Health and Social Care Moray Draft Carers Strategy 2023-2026
Spread the word
Reaching carers before crisis helps effect timely change.
Our quarterly newsletter was sent as a digital or hard copy to:
• every carer on our database
• over 450 professionals in the local area
• as many local groups and businesses where carers were likely to congregate, e.g. hairdressers, doctors’ surgeries, libraries, dentists, etc.
Advertising in the local Spotlight Magazine (dropped through every letterbox in Moray) helped us promote national campaigns like Carers Rights Day and Carers Week.
Highlighting unpaid carers and the service at local events extended our reach. In 23/24, we promoted the service to those who might not otherwise know about us at five exhibitions, including the Freshers Fayre at Moray College.
By engaging with those already on our books via our fortnightly Keeping You in the Know e-newsletter, we kept carers abreast of:
• what was happening both locally and nationally
• what rights they had as an unpaid carer
• tips to improve wellbeing
• what funding might be on offer and how to access it
Our Facebook page posted practical and useful information and helped carers feel connected to something bigger. The weekend boost posts let them know they were seen and acknowledged.
When carers feel comfortably included, they encourage others to get involved. Word of mouth is highly effective.
Adult carers
Every adult carer that approached the service for support was offered an Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) in compliance with the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.
This document creates a picture of the current caring situation and identifies support needs. The subsequent support plan enables achievement of personal outcomes to reduce the impact of the caring role and improve ability to cope.
Support plans included:
• Learning opportunities
Face-to-face and online opportunities, practical in nature and short in duration, to fit in with carers’ capacity, with topics including legal issues, wellbeing and condition-specific information, e.g. autism or dementia.
• Counselling
Where more in-depth emotional support is indicated beyond the listening ear of our Family Wellbeing Workers, our volunteer counselling programme can help, with carers able to access a maximum of 18 weekly sessions.
Can finally see past the darkness. Everything is going in the right direction.
Virtual Dementia Tour a real eye-opener. Am ready to face whatever comes next.
Autism Reality Experience extremely beneficial for me to experience.
• Advice and information
Providing, or referring carers to, relevant information in suitable formats leaves them better placed to make decisions and move forward with confidence.
Topics covered in 2023/34 included benefits, health and wellbeing, condition-specific information, legalities and funding.
Each carer was involved in their support planning and signed off the final document. Along with service support, those assessed by The Moray Council as meeting eligibility benefitted from additional support to the cared for, or self-directed support in their own right.
ACSPs were reviewed on an annual basis, or as needed if circumstances changed.
Not every carer completed an ACSP. In 2023/24, reasons for this included:
• being too mentally overwhelmed at the time to complete a form
• not wanting to share information
• not feeling it necessary as they were coping well enough
Any carer declining an ACSP is always made aware they can request one any time.
Miriam’s
story – how Quarriers helped
“I felt recognised.”
“Help to understand better.”
“Vital
“Quarriers feels like a sisterhood.”
72
“The bike makes fresh air possible.”
“Always lovely to interact with folk.”
Young carers
For young carers, a Young Carer Statement (YCS) (legal entitlement through the Carer (Scotland) Act 2016) identified the current situation and help required to reduce or remove the caring role and its impact.
Our youngest carer in 2023/24 was four years old.
Our job was to help ensure they had:
• the chance to be a child, just like their peers
• as complete an education as possible
• the confidence and ability to move forward in life
Leadership and relationship skills, knowledge, confidence, self-esteem, kindness, compassion, good mental health and much more were all fostered through activities that included the Scottish Young Carer Festival, our Carers United group, video making days and various trips/ activities organised by the service.
Thank you all for giving up your free time to take us to the festival. I had an amazing time. Young carer
My
child
has been on a few different things and the care and thought given to young carers is always amazing.
Parent of young carer
Thank you for all that you do for our children.
Parent of young carer
The YC video is fantastic! Young carer
197 young carers
13 activities offered
112 attended activities
Parent carers
Parent carers face unique challenges, not least adjusting to the reality of life with a child who has additional needs, and acknowledging the differences from the life they anticipated as a family.
There is often little time for other children/ family members and friends. Guilt, anger, fear, exhaustion, desperation, depression, resignation, isolation and grief are emotions most parent carers would admit to experiencing. Relationship breakdowns, future uncertainty, violent behaviour that gets worse as a child grows, or flight risks on a daily basis all take their toll mentally and physically.
Family peer support activities, which also catered for neurodiverse children, encouraged parents to connect with others and make new friends. This reduced isolation, offered something to look forward to, and provided a useful change of routine.
20 neurodiverse family play sessions 132
parent carers supported 11 upskilled in managing challenging behaviour
This has made loads of difference. I don’t get out during the week, and trying to find places to take all the children is difficult. It’s also good for other children to see what it’s like for families where there are children with additional needs.
Parent of child with additional needs
Time to live
We sourced funding from Shared Care Scotland’s Better Breaks Fund to enable a long weekend at Ballater for three families with Crathie Opportunity Holidays in November 2023.
Chloe’s story
Chloe cares for her 14-year-old son Hayden who has multiple conditions and uses a wheelchair. Although he is not able to vocalise, Hayden will scream and shout when unhappy and lash out when frustrated. This can be upsetting for his sister, Sophie, and overwhelming for his parents.
The weekend was an opportunity for them to spend time with other families who understood what they were facing on a daily basis, and also do their own thing if they wished.
Sophie had one-to-one time with a Family Wellbeing Worker, and helped with food preparation alongside the chef. She was also able to have time to herself, with Mum and Dad happy in the knowledge that she was safe in the complex.
This was a first holiday away together for the family. Despite their initial fears, they realised it was possible to go away, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The experience encouraged Sophie to register as a young carer and, on returning home, her family created space in their garden where she can go outside to have time away from her brother when she feels the need.
Mike, Chloe’s husband, although somewhat apprehensive at first, thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and the opportunity to speak to other people about their situation. His feedback identified that he realised he’s not alone, and that having holidays as a family was possible.
Chloe’s feedback was her massive smile on leaving. She says this opportunity gave her confidence to do it all again, confidence to go out as a family and not be embarrassed when Hayden becomes upset.
When asked what they felt would make a significant difference to them, most carers identified a break of some sort. In 2023/24, the Carer Support Service was again successful in securing short break funding to enable unpaid carers of all ages access to short breaks via the Time to Live programme.
Janice’s story
Janice is a single parent carer whose daughter has autism, a learning disability and mental health issues. Her caring role demands over 50 hours of her time per week, and she has been caring for more than 10 years. She’s physically and emotionally exhausted with the stress created by caring. It has taken over her life, and she’s rarely able to get away. Janice is unable to work or volunteer as her daughter is a flight risk from school. She needs to be available at a moment’s notice. Like many other unpaid carers, Janice feels she has lost herself. She’s lonely, stressed and, understandably, feels like just running away.
Identified as being in need of a break, Janice was offered a Time to Live award so she could take back some control over her life. She spent the money on camping equipment, travel tickets, entertainment and a table with benches for the home so she and her daughter could enjoy some arts and crafts time together.
The stress and anxiety Janice’s daughter experiences has reduced and she has something to look forward to on a more regular basis. Janice also used some of the money to meet up with pals for the odd coffee or meal out. The Time to Live award helped her reconnect with her family, friends and, importantly, herself. Feeling better about who she is strengthened her resolve and ability to continue caring. The regular short breaks she enjoys as a result of her funding will create more of an opportunity to change her routine and caring role in future.
£40,056 awarded
The camping equipment allows for weekends away and holiday breaks with my daughter, or sometimes by myself. The bench means we have somewhere suitable to do our arts and crafts. We can have more fun both at home and away.
Janice
61% said the break helped them to enjoy a life outside of caring
65% said their wellbeing improved after a break
75% had no break for 12 months
119 awards
respitality
In addition to Time to Live funding, the service, as a local representative of the national Respitality programme, organised various free short break donations for matching with carers who would otherwise not have access to breaks. These donations included overnight stays, day trips and high teas.
Marguerite’s story
Marguerite is always there for her adult son, Jonathan, whose conditions mean he is affected by significant anxiety. In an effort to manage his anxiety, Jonathan is a creature of habit. Any deviation can throw him into a tailspin. This puts enormous strain on Marguerite, and access to breaks is vital if she is to continue providing support for her son.
A day out was potentially the tonic Marguerite needed, so she was matched with a Respitality Discovery Pass kindly donated by the Highland Wildlife Park.
In addition to giving her something to look forward to, and a change of scenery to help freshen her daily perspective, Marguerite felt a day out in new surroundings might be perfect to further broaden Jonathan’s horizons too. Because the pass had been donated via Respitality, she hoped this would act as an incentive for him to attend as he would feel more obliged to accept such a kind offer. After some persuading, Jonathan agreed to the day out. The big bonus was Jonathan’s unexpected enjoyment of the day, which he found “fascinating”.
Imbued by the success of the Wildlife Park, they visited Landmark Forest Adventure Park. Most encouraging of all, having never previously shown any interest in animals, Jonathan has worked feeding carrots to his aunt’s three horses and stroking her cat (that he previously had been somewhat fearful of) into his weekend. Respitality was literally lifechanging.
We had a tremendous visit, so rewarding. We’ll definitely go again!
Marguerite
49 beneficiaries couldn’t normally afford a break 87%
£1,293 worth of breaks
Help at hand
In 2023/24, the cost of living crisis impacted many carers significantly.
The service was able to secure emergency funding from the Scottish Government via Shared Care Scotland and made awards to carers in financial difficulty to:
• alleviate some of the financial pressure to make ends meet
• reduce stress induced by that situation
• improve wellbeing, however temporary
The Help at Hand scheme set up by the service targeted carers in arrears and/ or struggling with utility, food and other household bills.
£6,583 awarded in total
£3,150 food vouchers
£1,444 loan repayments 11 families benefitted
Jennifer’s story
Jennifer gave up work to care for her husband with mental health issues.
“We’ve been struggling to keep on top of our electric bill and it’s getting out of hand. We got a new heating system put in with heat pump and solar panels. We were promised this would be more efficient and save money, but our energy bills have increased.”
In fact, their bills doubled! Jennifer paid as much as she could each month to try and stay afloat, but the debt just kept rising. As she was beginning to lose hope, Help at Hand threw Jennifer a lifeline. It paid off the balance of £760 in full directly to the energy company.
“This is very much appreciated. I can relax a bit now. It has lifted a massive weight from my shoulders. The energy company has also moved us onto the correct tariff so our bill will never be as high again.”
In levelling the debt, the service put Jennifer and her family back on an even keel where she can manage to keep on top of bills. The energy company also put her on the correct tariff, so the future looks much more positive and less stressful.
