A carer is someone of any age who provides unpaid support to family or friends who could not manage without this help. This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems.

Carers may even be juggling paid work with their unpaid caring responsibilities at home. The term carer should not be confused with a care worker, or care assistant, who receives payment for looking after someone.

If you are a carer, your local Crossroads Care scheme can offer you support. Our core service sees a trained carer support worker coming into the home to take over the caring responsibilities. Each local scheme is an independent charity, which has its own funding streams and is therefore able to provide additional services according to funding and demand at a local level.