Carers Assessments
If you care for someone, you can ask for a Carer’s Assessment. This is a free conversation for anyone over the age of 18 about how caring affects your life, and what support could help you continue caring while also taking care of your own wellbeing.
For carers under the age of 18, visit our Young Adult Carers section.
A Carer’s Assessment might recommend support such as:
- activities, exercise or wellbeing support to help reduce stress
- help with travel costs if getting around is difficult
- practical support with tasks such as gardening or housework
- introductions to local support groups so you have people to talk to
- advice about benefits and other support available to carers
- financial help, such as a Carer’s Personal Budget
Support eligibility
You may be eligible for support if your caring role has a significant impact on your wellbeing.
This could include caring responsibilities affecting your:
- physical or mental health
- ability to work or study
- relationships with family, friends or others
- ability to manage day-to-day activities
Importantly, if you do not meet the Care Act eligibility threshold, it does not mean you cannot get support.
We can still offer information, advice and guidance, help you understand your rights and options, and provide ongoing support through tailored advice and signposting.
How do I arrange an assessment?
If you are new to Improving Lives Plymouth, please complete our registration form and let us know that you would like a Carer’s Assessment. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
If you need further support, or you are already registered with us, you can contact us below.
What will be considered?
The assessment focuses on your wellbeing and how caring affects your life. It gives you space to talk about what is working, what feels difficult, and what could make things easier.
You may talk about:
- your caring role and how you feel about caring
- your physical, mental and emotional health
- how caring affects work, education, leisure, family life and relationships
- what support could help you continue caring while looking after your own wellbeing too
What happens afterwards?
After your assessment, we will agree a plan with you. This may include practical information, advice, signposting to local services, help applying for grants, or financial support such as a Carer’s Personal Budget.
Reviewing your caring role
We will normally review your caring role around 12 months after your assessment. You do not need to contact us when this is due, we will get in touch with you. Depending on demand, this may take up to 18 months.
If your caring role changes significantly before then, please let us know so we can decide whether an earlier review would be helpful.
Carers Passports
The Carers Passport is free and available for carers aged 18 or over who provide care for a Plymouth resident of any age. Our Family and Friend Carer Passport helps you identify as a carer and helps us recognise you as a carer. We are making a commitment to you as a carer to recognise and value the support you provide, the expertise you bring, and the needs you have in terms of your own health and welfare.
Research shows that unpaid carers of family or friends routinely neglect their own health and care needs in order to prioritise the needs of the person they care for. We will help family and friend carers access the support they need to maintain good physical and mental wellbeing. This will enable you to continue your caring role and, when appropriate, we can help you relinquish some aspects of it.
For further information and to download the Carers Passport Booklet, please visit Plymouth Online Directory via the link below.
We are looking for local businesses and individuals who may be willing to offer discounts or concessions on their products and services to carers — a great way to support local carers and local businesses. If this sounds like a fit for you, get in touch now.
Carers Hospital Service
The Carers Hospital Service supports unpaid carers after a hospital admission, whether for themselves or a loved one, helping them readapt to independent living.
Support can be practical, emotional, or signposting-based, helping ensure both you and the person you care for are safe, and that you can continue caring in a sustainable way.
Please be aware that the hospital service is not based at Derriford Hospital. However, our hospital liaison workers visit Derriford every Monday and Thursday and are happy to pick up referrals during their ward rounds.
If you or the person you care for has a planned or recent hospital stay, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
What can the Hospital Service offer?
Our team will continue to work with you for up to 3 weeks, depending on the level of interventions needed. We try to be as creative as possible when looking for solutions to ease your strain, and are passionate about offering person-centred, holistic services where your specific needs are prioritised.
For example, may be able to help with things like:
- Delivery of meals
- Cleaning and shopping
- Support with setting up online
- Transport to and from appointments
- Sitting in service
- Purchase of non-medical equipment such as white goods, electronics, aids
- Signposting to other professional services
Who is eligible for the Hospital Service?
Family, friends or neighbours who provide unpaid care to anybody over the age of 18, living in the Plymouth area, can receive support from the Hospital if they have had an admission at Derriford.
We can accept referrals:
- Up to 2 weeks before a planned admission, providing there is a discharge date
- Up to 2 weeks post discharge
- When someone has presented in A&E, Acute Medical Units or Medical Triage Units
- When the Urgent Community Response, Rapid Response or the Ambulance Service are requesting.
Carers Personal Budgets
What is a Carer’s Personal Budget?
A personal budget is a support payment made by your local council or trust to help you take a break from caring and look after your own health and wellbeing. It’s there to give you dedicated time to step away from your caring role and recharge.
Who is Eligible?
To be considered for a Carer’s Personal Budget, you must meet the following criteria:
- Aged 18 or over
- Caring unpaid for a friend or family member living in Plymouth (Carer’s Allowance is not considered payment)
- The person you care for cannot manage without support due to age, disability, long-term illness, a mental health condition, or addiction
- Not received a personal budget or direct payment from Plymouth City Council in the last 12 months
- Funds must be used to help you switch off from your caring role, as agreed in your carers assessment
Other Restrictions:
- You must care for someone who lives in Plymouth (pays their council tax to Plymouth Council)
- The Carer’s Personal Budget is not an automatic entitlement. It is awarded when you have an eligible need for support that cannot be met in another way.
- You can only be considered once every 12 to 18 months
How do I apply?
First, we will need to carry out a Carer’s Assessment to understand your support needs. This is a free conversation for anyone over the age of 18 about how caring affects your life, and what support could help you continue caring while also taking care of your own wellbeing. If eligible, we’ll then agree how the money will be spent, request your payment details, and pay the money directly into your bank account. Applications can take up to 4 weeks to process.
How will your level of need be decided?
We’ll use your Carer’s Assessment to consider what other support you have available, and how your caring role affects your health and wellbeing, stress levels, relationships, ability to work, and ability to continue caring.
What can’t the budget be used for?
- Care charges or breaks for the person you care for
- Services that should be provided by other agencies, such as school trips, equipment, or adaptations
- Activities or personal care exclusively for the person you care for
- Anything covered by welfare benefits
- Clothing, food, alcohol, or illegal substances
- Holidays or breaks already taken, paid for, or booked before your assessment
- Household bills or debts
- Gambling
What if I’ve received a Carer’s Personal Budget before?
A previous award doesn’t guarantee another. We’ll review your caring role 12 to 18 months after your first assessment or last review and will contact you when that’s due. If your situation changes significantly before then, please let us know so we can decide whether an earlier review is needed.
Groups and activities
Support groups, social activities and workshops for carers. Dates and venues are confirmed on our activities calendar.
Central Park Walk for Carers
If you are an unpaid carer looking to connect with others for peer support, join us for a gentle walk around Central Park followed by coffee at the Life Centre café.
Community Crafters
Bring your own crafts and chat with other creatives in an informal setting.
Plymstock Carers Support Group
Our support groups offer a friendly, welcoming space where carers can take a break, connect with others, and share experiences.
Information for Professionals
Identifying a carer in need of support can be tricky.
Carers often don’t recognise the label carer. Since we primarily define ourselves in terms of the relationships we have, they will often simply consider themselves the partner or child of a person with an illness or disability.
We support people and organisations that work with carers in Plymouth, and are able to provide a range of training, support, and workshops on carer’s issues and interacting with carers. We cover:
- Who carers are, and what they are worried about.
- What services and support are available locally.
- How you can support carers.
- What it means to treat carers as partners in care.
Training is available in a group or 1:1 depending on staff needs.
We have also developed a Carer Awareness PowerPoint Presentation for professionals to download and use with their teams.
You can download a pdf version of the presentation here.
For further information or to book a carers awareness session for you or your team, contact us now.
