Carers Trust press release, 23 August 2016: Break the isolation – can online services help you?
53% of carers who access online support say it makes a difference to their lives.
Welcome to our new Carers Trust website – the place to go for action, help and advice.
We know that accessing online support can make a real difference to unpaid carers lives, and carers.org is a crucial lifeline to more than seven million carers across the UK.
Our new website features a wealth of new and updated support and resources to help reach potentially isolated unpaid carers:
- New help and advice pages
- A map to help carers find their local support service
- Online community pages where unpaid carers can chat to other carers, find advice and support, and ask the online support team directly for help
- Mobile responsiveness – this is a significant and crucial improvement. Ofcom predicts that 63% of UK homes will have a tablet by the end of 2016, for example.
Online resources for isolated unpaid carers
These online resources make sure that unpaid carers who are isolated and cannot visit a carers centre or service can still get help, advice and support when they need it.
“So many unpaid carers are isolated due to their caring roles,” comments Gail Scott-Spicer, Chief Executive of Carers Trust.
“The new carers.org can offer them access to a community of like-minded people who can support each other online.
Our online support service is available 24/7, 365 days a year and can provide that much needed support that some unpaid carers need.
Survey shows carers missing out on online support
In addition to our website launch, we’re announcing findings from our new survey, which shows that many unpaid carers are missing out on online support because they simply don’t know it exists.
Key figures from the survey:
- The survey found that more than half (56%) of unpaid carers surveyed don’t access online support.
- When asked why they didn’t access online support 43% said they didn’t know it existed.
- More than half of the carers (53%) who did access online support said that it had made a difference to their lives, with 58% saying that they used it to access advice.
- Almost one in four unpaid carers (37%) said they used it because they couldn’t leave the house much.
Find out more about the survey in our press release
Download our infographic showing statistics about carers online (PDF, 4.4MB)
Marie’s story
Marie, 44 cares for her daughter Jasmine, 21 who has complex needs. Marie cares for Jasmine 24/7 as Jasmine can do little for herself. With no family close by and a husband who works full time, Marie relies a lot on online support:
I use online support to take a break. It gives me some me time.
“Contact with other carers is so important, especially when you feel quite isolated as I do. I have no family close by and don’t really have to time to meet with friends.”
