Views are being sought on a new strategy describing how Kent County Council plans to work with all partners to make welcomed changes towards improving the experiences of unpaid adult carers in Kent in a public consultation launched today (Wednesday 12 January).

The Kent Adult Carers Strategy has been developed in collaboration with carers and other public sector partners including the NHS and district councils and recognises the enormous contribution that carers make as care partners. The support that unpaid carers give, directly benefits the people they look after and society as a whole. Through our shared vision for Kent, we hope to raise awareness of the valuable work carers do – and promote the support that might help them live a full life whilst caring for others.

Closely aligned with the council’s wider adult social care strategy that was consulted on last year the new Adult Carers Strategy aspires to take a more joined up approach in the support and empowerment of carers to lead the lives they want to live, in a place they call home, by putting carers at the heart of everything.

The strategy is a guide that focuses on what needs to be achieved in the coming years – but we will rely on the support of the workforce, both within the council and in the wider care sector, to bring it to life.

The public consultation runs from 12 January to 22 February 2022.

Clair Bell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health said: “We greatly value the huge contribution our unpaid carers make in our communities. Their quality of life, safety and wellbeing is of utmost importance to us, particularly during the ongoing restrictions and challenges they face during the pandemic.

“Our new Adult Carers Strategy focuses on ensuring our unpaid carers in Kent are supported in the ways they want to be, by putting them at the centre of it and guiding its delivery through direct collaboration with the council and our partners.

“This is the start of the conversation, and I would like to encourage all our residents to give us their feedback on our new strategy to help inform its future delivery.”

Get involved at www.kent.gov.uk/adultcarersstrategy.

If you require any of the documents in an alternative format or language, please email alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 42 15 53 (text relay service number: 18001 03000 42 15 53).  This number goes to an answering machine, which is monitored during office hours.