There are estimated to be 94,000 unpaid carers in Norfolk, many of them are young carers between the ages of 5-15, saving the NHS and local authorities £1.6 billion a year.
A quarter of Norfolk children from ages 5-15 are unpaid carers.
Please can we all support our wonderful High Sheriff of Norfolk, James Bagge, on supporting ‘caring for the carers’.
The focus on James’ year so far has been on celebrating volunteering across the county. However, whilst in post James has become aware of the critical role of the unpaid carers; those caring for loved ones, who perhaps don’t see themselves as volunteers and may not have felt that their caring was ever an active choice, but more something they needed to do.
James sadly will leave his post at the end of this month and with a view to making an even more positive contribution to Norfolk he is embarking on a modern-day pilgrimage of 1500 miles to Santiago de Compostela to raise awareness and money for a cause which is so current and prevalent to our county. James wants to better support our unpaid carers and believes they deserve so much more recognition than they currently have.
Many of young carers suffer from mental health and stress issues as consequence to this. There are organisations and charities that exist to support these young people but they need the funds to do so. The monies raised as a result of this campaign will be distributed to them through the Norfolk Community Foundation, so that they in turn can make life a bit easier for the carers and give them the respite they so richly deserve. It’s all about ‘caring for the carers’ and remember they are saving the public purse a fortune.
This is something that we look to support as St-Eds has students that are also young carers and we will continue to support them to our best ability. Please can we look to support James Bagge, our very successful High Sheriff in aiding unpaid carers on his pilgrimage.
Please click here for more information and how to fund.