Today, 20th of November 2025, is Carer’s Rights Day. It is about raising awareness about the rights that the UK’s 5.8 million unpaid carers are entitled to, in an effort to help them get the support they need and the recognition they deserve.
This year, the theme is ‘Know your rights, use your rights’. According to Carers UK, “Every day, 12,000 people become unpaid carers for a partner, family member or a friend – many of whom don’t see themselves as carers, often unaware of their legal rights and what they’re entitled to in terms of support and benefits”.
IMPACT Networks
IMPACT Networks aim to involve a range of stakeholders in each region of the UK on different topics related to adult social care, and a key group that are often under-heard are unpaid carers. We support unpaid carers to take part in IMPACT Networks by providing a participation fee to recognise their valuable time, insights and emotional labour, as well as offering to cover the cost of replacement care if needed.
Some of our networks focused on unpaid carers are below, and you can see all of our IMPACT Network topics on our website here.
This Network focused on carers (unpaid or ‘informal’) and how they could be better involved during periods of transition. Sometimes carers are ‘forgotten’ or ‘taken for granted’ in the processes and decision-making, and the aim of this Network was to explore how they can be more involved in ways that align with the values of ‘co-production’.
Reading Borough Council led one of the networks exploring this topic. As part of their action plan, they co-produced a video for Carers Week. This was a collaboration between Reading Borough Council staff, students at the University of Reading and unpaid carers who live in Reading to raise awareness of the experiences of carers in Reading. You can find it here.
This topic is important because local authorities and public bodies, across the four UK nations, are trying to involve people with lived experience and carers in commissioning and decision-making processes. Involving people can help to create support provision that helps people to live their best lives. There are different ways to engage people with lived experience in decision-making processes such as peer research, co-design, inclusion in committees, working groups, or via consultation. Each of these approaches is characterised by different levels of involving people with lived experience.
Although this network focused on the paid care workforce, it also included unpaid carers and people who deliver both paid and unpaid care. Care is amazing – and it transforms people’s lives. However, without the right support, care work can be difficult and distressing – and the way that adult social care is funded and organised means that many roles can be poorly paid, insecure and stressful. IMPACT Networks is taking action: by gathering evidence and sharing experiences, they’re working to create positive change and improve the wellbeing of care workers.
When people need support, the first time they contact social services is really important. When it goes well, it can be the first step to getting the support they need. It can also leave people feeling confused and frustrated. There are different terms used for these services across the four UK nations (e.g. ‘gateway’ or ‘single point of access’) – we mean the service where people first ask for information and access social (care) services. A term used in some places around the UK is ‘Front Door’ Services, and some local authorities or councils have dedicated teams and services to ensure their ‘Front Doors’ into adult social care are welcoming and easy to use.
One recommendation that came out of this network was that the use of the term ‘assessment’ should be changed – participants in the network reported it as a ‘frightening word’ which stops people from asking for information and services. It was suggested to change the name of the process – especially for carers.
If you’re interested in learning more about IMPACT networks or getting involved in our 2026-27 IMPACT networks, please follow the link here or contact us at [email protected].
For any unpaid carers looking for more information on their rights, we recommend you visit Carers UK.