Scarborough-based charity Carers Plus Yorkshire honoured with excellence award

Carers Plus Yorkshire has been awarded following a rigorous assessment of their services to unpaid carers, as well as the quality of its leadership, staff, internal processes and engagement with key local partners and stakeholders.

Excellence for Carers is the Carers Trust organisational standard for best practice in delivering services, information and advice to unpaid carers.

Carers Trust said in its report that “Carers Plus Yorkshire demonstrates a commitment and passion to its mission to identify and support unpaid carers, from the CEO, senior team and Board through to frontline Advisers and volunteers.”

Elizabeth McPherson, Carers Plus Yorkshire’s Chief Executive, said: “This award really matters to everyone at Carers Plus Yorkshire. We’ve always known that we are passionate about what we do, and we take great pride in that. But we owe it to unpaid carers to be more than just passionate.

"That’s what this award does. It tells us, and the unpaid carers we work with, that we are specialists offering specialist services. We owe it to carers not to rest on our laurels now, this is just the beginning for us.

"We will continue to listen to clients and colleagues, and work to continually to make sure our service is meeting the needs of carers across our patch.”

Carers Trust also noted in its report the commitment of Carers Plus Yorkshire, having achieved the award, to carry on making improvements, citing: “a clear signal to embed quality improvement through the introduction of the Quality Assurance Lead role”.

Perry Marshall, Network Development Manager at Carers Trust, said: “It was obvious to us that everyone across the Carers Plus Yorkshire team, from the Board to the Senior Team, staff and volunteers had bought into developing a culture of excellence.

"They have achieved all this while still working flat out to help carers cope with the terrible impact of lockdown and shielding. I am thrilled that the team have worked so hard to come this far and am really looking forward to seeing their services continue to excel.”

Charities achieving the Carers Trust standard must demonstrate quality of service to unpaid carers across ten key areas: outcomes and impact; carer identification; carer need; information, advice and support; sign-posting and navigation to sources of support and information; peer support, emotional support and carers education; working with, and on behalf of carers, formal and informal advocacy; technology and digital; partnerships, influence and sustainability; and carer involvement.