Working for Carers Gold Award

Wiltshire businesses that support staff with caring responsibilities were celebrated at a gala evening and awards ceremony this month.

Home Instead Senior Care (Bath and West Wiltshire) picked up the first Gold Award ever awarded.

The event was hosted by the Working for Carers programme to celebrate the commitment employers have made to those in their workforce with caring responsibilities.

It is also a chance for employers who’ve yet to join the programme to discover more about it, as well as an opportunity to network.

Working for Carers, which is run by the charity Carer Support Wiltshire, was launched last July to highlight the number of carers among the county’s workforce and to encourage employers to help them balance their caring and work commitments.

There are known to be around 47,500 carers in Wiltshire, many of them in employment.

In its first six months Working for Carers attracted many employers, and Carer Support Wiltshire hopes the event on January 21 at Devizes Town Hall will encourage more to sign up.

Carer Support Wiltshire chief executive Catharine Hurford said employers were increasingly realising they risk losing valuable members of staff because of their care commitments.

“The majority of carers are aged between 45 and 64, many of them at the peak of their careers. Working for Carers is a programme designed to help businesses retain those people by enabling them to stay in work,” she said.

“Working for Carers helps employers to become part of a network of responsible employers leading the way on recognition, equality, and inclusion in the workplace, helping them to create a culture of support and understanding for staff who are carers.”

click here for more details or to contact Home Instead Senior Care (Bath)