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Posted on 27 Apr 2020

We’re delighted to announce some good news! Nottinghamshire Healthcare has been recognised by Employers for Carers as a Carer Confident Active Employer.

The Trust received this accreditation in March 2020.

At Nottinghamshire Healthcare, we believe it’s vital to have the right support in place for all staff, and particularly those who are, or will become, carers.  With one in nine people juggling work with caring for someone who is older, ill or disabled, staff who are also carers are incredibly important to our workforce.

The Carer Confident benchmarking scheme, supports employers to build a positive and inclusive workplace for staff to make the most of the talents that carers bring to the workplace.  It’s designed to help organisations and businesses of all shapes and sizes create more carer-supportive workplace for their staff

The Carer Confident scheme provides a practical framework. This will help us to:

• Develop and implement our package of support for (unpaid) carers who are staff.
• Identify and measure the impact of workplace policies and practices which can support carer (and wider workforce) retention, engagement and productivity.
• Heighten profile and reputation as an ‘employer of choice’ for the growing numbers of people looking to work more flexibly (whether carers, former carers, older workers, returners or others).

Our HR department and the Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team submitted the application together. It detailed the support that the Trust offers to carers including:

• A Wellbeing – ‘How are you doing?’ plan which is currently being adapted to include supportive measures for employees who may have caring responsibilities outside of work. The plan will allow managers to start the conversation with employees and help them to understand what practical support would be helpful on an individualised basis.
• Special Leave Guidance - to enable our staff who are carers to balance their work time and caring commitments in a way that suits both employee and employer
• Flexible Working Guidance, which offers options such as term time working, job shares, part time, time in lieu etc. Managers are encouraged to be understanding around such requests or look at alternatives to support employees
• The Trust is a member of the Triangle of Care in partnership with The Carers Trust with dedicated Carer Leads and Links to help the carers we work with. Over time we would like to develop carer lead roles specifically for staff.
• We have a Carers Connect Network (CCN) that meet to work together using the Triangle of Care standards to include, inform and involve the carers we work with and will inform how we progress to support staff carers alike.

Teeney Clare – Executive Director of People and Culture said:

“I'm very proud that Nottinghamshire Healthcare has achieved Level 1 Carer Confident accreditation, it’s a brilliant first step and incredibly positive to be recognised for the excellent support we offer to our carers. We very much value our staff who are carers and the contribution they make and want to make sure that the right package of support is available to them. We are also committed to raising awareness of our carers benefits and improving the support we offer.”

You can find out more about the Carer Confident award here.