Press Release: Campaign Calls on South Tees Businesses to Recognise and Support Working Carers
Carers Rights Day 20 November 2025
As part of Carers Rights Day on 20 November 2025, We Care You Care is urging businesses and organisations across South Tees to do more to identify and support unpaid carers in the workplace.
As part of its Carers Rights Day campaign, We Care You Care is offering free awareness sessions to help employers:
- Understand the business benefits of supporting working carers
- Learn about legal responsibilities towards employees with caring duties
- Equip community-facing staff to identify and engage with carers, and signpost to local support services
- Find out about practical ideas and best practice examples from other employers
Every year, more than 1.9 million people in paid employment become unpaid carers, approximately 5,300 people every day. Caring can happen gradually or overnight, and it affects people from all walks of life. Anyone can become a carer – whether you’re supporting an elderly relative, a child with special educational needs or a disability, a spouse with a long-term illness, or a friend or neighbour who can’t cope without help.
“Caring doesn’t just happen at home, it impacts the workplace too,” said Melanie Kendall, Project Officer from We Care You Care. “We want local employers to recognise that by supporting carers, they retain experienced staff, improve wellbeing, and create a more compassionate workplace.”
Balancing work and caring responsibilities can be extremely stressful. It’s estimated that around 600 people a day leave work to care for someone, often highly skilled employees at the peak of their careers.
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) recognises and supports staff who balance work with caring responsibilities with robust carer friendly work policies.
Through its dedicated Working Carers Network, Carer Passport scheme, and a commitment to being flexible and understanding the needs of working carers, the Trust supports employees to manage both their professional roles and caring duties.
Andrea Murray, registered mental health nurse and research delivery team lead at TEWV, said:
“It’s important that, as an organisation, we do everything we can to be flexible and help our team members manage the additional commitments they have in their life wherever possible. An inflexible environment only adds to stress, which isn’t good for the carer, the person they care for, or the organisation and the people we serve. We care about our team members, and it is important that they feel supported and valued.
“Offering some flexibility where possible helps relieve pressure, keeps people in work and, providing all the elements work, supports not just financial stability, but also productivity, having support from others, feeling valued and reducing isolation.”
For more information visit www.wecareyoucare.info or email hello@wecareyoucare.info
We Care You Care is a communications and campaigns initiative that provides information, advice, and signposting for unpaid carers in Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland. It is run by Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency (MVDA) on behalf of both local councils and acts as a central hub for support, including details on financial support, health and wellbeing, and local carer support services.
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