Carers Rights Day

t’s Carers Rights Day 2025, and the theme this year is ‘Know Your Rights, Use Your Rights’.  Cllr John Spence, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, talks with Gateway’s Ros Connors about how there are at least 124,000 unpaid carers living across Essex, many of whom do not know they are legally entitled to certain rights and protections. For example:

• Flexible working arrangements
• One week of unpaid leave per year (since 2024)
• Financial support (i.e. council tax reductions, carers credit, carers allowance)
• Carer’s assessment from the local authority
• Protection against discrimination

Among other things the council is launching is a new hospital discharge booklet, supporting carers with the significant challenges they can face when looking after someone who is leaving hospital.

For more information, go to…

https://www.essex.gov.uk/news/2025/carers-rights-day-2025-know-your-rights-use-your-rights-essex

Here’s Ros’s interview Cllr John Spence.