Let’s Care Together: Referral Partners and Carers

Five million people in England and Wales and more than 9% of the UK population, provide unpaid care to a relative, friend, or somebody else with a long-term illness, mental health condition or problems related to old age.¹

Our Let’s Care Together programme supports the wellbeing of unpaid carers/those who care for others with online/over the phone one-to-one befriending. The programme is powered by Simplyhealth, a leading healthcare provider.

This programme aims to support carers by streamlining access to resources and providing practical guidance and signposting across the four key pillars of wellbeing: Physical, Mental, Social and Financial. The programme offers unpaid carers (aged 18+) who may be lonely or isolated, a regular touch point and friendly face to take a step back from their caring duties and focus on their own wellbeing and goals. We believe by helping unpaid carers, we are ultimately supporting household wellbeing as well.

Strategic focus

We know unpaid carers are more than twice as likely to suffer from poor health compared to people without caring responsibilities. In November 2021, Business in the Community (BITC) and Ipsos UK surveyed a representative sample of people across the UK to better understand contemporary attitudes and experiences on combining paid work and care. The results published in this report paint a picture of working policies and practices that are out of touch with the needs and expectations of modern workforces.

Through setting up a BITC working group including some of our business members, we are working closely with The Carers Trust to influence business to make changes in their organisation to ensure working carers are better supported. Some of the learnings from this programme will feed into this as well.

This programme is aimed at unpaid carers who:

are 18 years of age or over
look after someone or have looked after someone until recently
speak a basic level of conversational English
have access to a phone and preferably also an email
would benefit from 1:1 befriender support as a listening ear or to help build their confidence and knowledge of support and resources available to them

Programme detail

Through this programme our befrienders will help carers to:

Navigate relevant local services and access additional support
Improve their social wellbeing by increasing feelings of connectedness
Establish community links
Increase feelings of financial independence and access to financial support, where appropriate
Improve access to tools and practical support for physical wellbeing
Support with mental wellbeing by reducing feelings of isolation

To partner with us and refer clients for support please contact care@bitc.org.uk

Next steps

Download the following documents for further information:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Who qualifies as a carer?

A carer is anyone, including children and adults, who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, mental health problems or addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they give is unpaid¹.

¹ NHS England commissioning for carers

I am a carer, how can I find a befriender?

Complete this form, and a member of the Let’s Care Together team will be in touch.

Complete and submit this form

How can my organisation be involved in Let’s Care Together?

The Let’s Care Together programme is a pilot programme and will accept referral organisations in Spring 2024.
In the meantime, you can complete the form below or contact the team for more information.

Complete this form to express your interest or contact the Let’s Care Together team.