Trusts & Foundations
Who Do We Support & How
We serve the almost 2 million care workers in the UK who work tirelessly to support the safety, happiness and independence of our elderly and most vulnerable. Care workers make a huge contribution to society, yet they are sadly not given the reward or recognition they deserve. One quarter of care workers are on zero-hours contracts (Skills for Care, 2020), 73% of independent care sector workers earn less than the minimum needed to ‘get by’ (defined by the Living Wage Foundation as £9.50/hour nationally or £10.85/hour in London) and many thousands are thought to earn less than the legal wage floor (Skills for Care, 2020). Furthermore, when care workers need to take time off work due to illness or injury, many are forced to survive on Statutory Sick Pay alone. Whilst this may be true of many sectors, this is especially cruel for care workers as social care reports amongst the highest rates of illness, stress, depression and anxiety caused or made worse by occupation (HSE Labour Force Surveys).
Care workers give so much, yet sometimes it’s the care workers themselves who need assistance.
This is where The Care Workers’ Charity steps in. We provide Crisis Grants to care workers with no financial safety net, to see them through sudden financial difficulty brought about by an unexpected life event or change in circumstances. We have supported care workers through illness, injury, loss of income, domestic abuse, relationship breakdown, homelessness and bereavement. We also set up a second grants fund - the Covid-19 Emergency Fund - in March 2020, to help care workers deal with the direct financial impact of the pandemic. Care workers can seek support if for example, their hours are reduced when care homes need to close or their income is suddenly cut when they need to isolate in order to protect those they care for. In providing these grants we know we change lives. Our grants not only alleviate the immediate financial demands and emotional anguish of a care worker’s difficult situation, but they also prevent them from missing other payments or accumulating debt and falling into financial hardship.
In 2020, we paid out over £250,000 to over 400 care workers from our Crisis Grant Fund and over £1.9m to approximately 2,800 care workers from our Covid-19 Emergency Fund.
And it is not just the financial wellbeing of our care workers we support. We are increasingly hearing from the care workers who apply to us for grants, that they are struggling with ‘burn out’, anxiety and depression. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made these problems worse as care workers grieve the loss of colleagues and those they care for to the virus, and work under the constant threat of becoming ill. With very little in the way of employee support systems available and as the only charity serving the needs of care workers, it was clear that we needed to help address these issues. We launched our Mental Health Support Programme in March 2021. This promises to provide at least 100 care workers which a series of 10 hours free personal therapy with a trained mental health professional.
Care workers give so much, yet sometimes it’s the care workers themselves who need assistance.
This is where The Care Workers’ Charity steps in. We provide Crisis Grants to care workers with no financial safety net, to see them through sudden financial difficulty brought about by an unexpected life event or change in circumstances. We have supported care workers through illness, injury, loss of income, domestic abuse, relationship breakdown, homelessness and bereavement. We also set up a second grants fund - the Covid-19 Emergency Fund - in March 2020, to help care workers deal with the direct financial impact of the pandemic. Care workers can seek support if for example, their hours are reduced when care homes need to close or their income is suddenly cut when they need to isolate in order to protect those they care for. In providing these grants we know we change lives. Our grants not only alleviate the immediate financial demands and emotional anguish of a care worker’s difficult situation, but they also prevent them from missing other payments or accumulating debt and falling into financial hardship.
In 2020, we paid out over £250,000 to over 400 care workers from our Crisis Grant Fund and over £1.9m to approximately 2,800 care workers from our Covid-19 Emergency Fund.
And it is not just the financial wellbeing of our care workers we support. We are increasingly hearing from the care workers who apply to us for grants, that they are struggling with ‘burn out’, anxiety and depression. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made these problems worse as care workers grieve the loss of colleagues and those they care for to the virus, and work under the constant threat of becoming ill. With very little in the way of employee support systems available and as the only charity serving the needs of care workers, it was clear that we needed to help address these issues. We launched our Mental Health Support Programme in March 2021. This promises to provide at least 100 care workers which a series of 10 hours free personal therapy with a trained mental health professional.
How Can You Support Us
There is a huge demand from care workers for our support. In any one month alone, over 300 care workers may apply to us for financial support. Care workers are also increasingly turning to us when they struggle with work-related stress and anxiety.
We are committed to supporting more care workers with our Covid-19 and Crisis grants, and providing meaningful emotional support in the form of one-to-one therapy. But we cannot continue to offer our vital services unless we get others on board, who like us are committed to improving the financial and emotional wellbeing of our incredible social care workforce.
Any size donation made to The Care Worker’s Charity can truly transform the life of a care worker. The average value of the grants we make is £500. This amount can help a care worker protect themselves from eviction, flee a violent relationship, or cover the costs of child care so that they can continue to do the amazing work of caring for others.
This same amount is also enough to provide a care worker with 10 hours of personal therapy with a trained mental health professional, which can improve their ability to cope with the emotional demands of their role and help transform their wellbeing.
Enabling us to support care workers also means supporting some of the most vulnerable in society. Care workers that are supported out of financial and emotional hardship can give their absolute dedication and commitment to their work, ensuring the elderly, and unwell or disabled children and adults they are responsible for, are given the very best care.
We would be particularly grateful for any donation towards our modest operating costs. This type of support can be difficult to come by but yet is essential to running our programmes and making a long-term commitment to care workers.
We are extremely grateful to those charitable trusts and foundations who have already generously supported our work.
We are committed to supporting more care workers with our Covid-19 and Crisis grants, and providing meaningful emotional support in the form of one-to-one therapy. But we cannot continue to offer our vital services unless we get others on board, who like us are committed to improving the financial and emotional wellbeing of our incredible social care workforce.
Any size donation made to The Care Worker’s Charity can truly transform the life of a care worker. The average value of the grants we make is £500. This amount can help a care worker protect themselves from eviction, flee a violent relationship, or cover the costs of child care so that they can continue to do the amazing work of caring for others.
This same amount is also enough to provide a care worker with 10 hours of personal therapy with a trained mental health professional, which can improve their ability to cope with the emotional demands of their role and help transform their wellbeing.
Enabling us to support care workers also means supporting some of the most vulnerable in society. Care workers that are supported out of financial and emotional hardship can give their absolute dedication and commitment to their work, ensuring the elderly, and unwell or disabled children and adults they are responsible for, are given the very best care.
We would be particularly grateful for any donation towards our modest operating costs. This type of support can be difficult to come by but yet is essential to running our programmes and making a long-term commitment to care workers.
We are extremely grateful to those charitable trusts and foundations who have already generously supported our work.