Research by the NUS and leading academics suggests that carers face elevated financial hardship, decreased wellbeing and that their support needs are often misunderstood or ignored by their institutions, leading to them being more likely to drop out of College / University than students without caring responsibilities.

The Student Advice and Information team have been offering enhanced support services to student carers on a pilot basis this academic year and we plan to further develop this provision in 2015/16.

As part of this commitment we are aiming to make support for student carers at the University more visible and explicit and have teamed up with staff from the Student’s Union, Sheffield Carers Centre and Sheffield Young Carers (SYC) to promote Carers Week 2015.

Some people may not consider themselves to be a carer, but rather a partner, family member or friend. Others may not be aware what a carer is. With this in mind, we thought a definition would be useful…

Who is a carer: a carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.

The duties of a carer: Just as the reasons why someone becomes a carer vary greatly, the variety of tasks that a carer fulfils is also diverse. They can include the following duties

• Practical household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, washing up, ironing, paying bills and financial management.
• Personal care such as bathing, dressing, lifting, administering medication and collecting prescriptions.
• Emotional support such as listening, offering advice and friendship.

Carers Week, 8-12 June

Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. This year’s focus is on building Carer Friendly Communities. There are many events taking place in Sheffield as part of Carers Week and you can find out more about them here.

Here at Sheffield Hallam, we will have some exciting and interesting activities and events taking place too. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect

Information stands – there will be stands in the libraries at City and Collegiate where students can find out about the city wide programme of Carers Week events, get information about local carers organisations and discover the wide range of university support services on offer at Sheffield Hallam. We will also have staff in Hallam Square 11am – 2pm on Monday 8 June and Wednesday 10 June talking to people about Carers Week and promoting our competition.

Competition – carers can often find it difficult to make time for themselves, so all week we will be offering students a chance to win a ‘pamper prize’ by signing up to the A&I blog, where we have our information pages for student carers.

Any student can enter the competition. General awareness raising is a key part of Carers Week as caring is often and fluid and anyone could become a carer at any time.

Special events – there will be a ‘Move to the Beat’ dancing and music workshop by Sheffield Young Carers Project in Hallam Square on Tuesday 9 June from 5pm – 7pm. Feel free to come along to the performance and show your support.

Student Carers’ Drop in – Student Advice and Information will be running a special drop in advice session for student carers at the Student Services Centre, Heart of the Campus, on Friday 12 June. Any current students, or prospective students on campus as part of the June Open Day, can drop by to get information about how staff at Sheffield Hallam can support them to balance studying at university with a caring role. Staff will be available between 9am – 11am and 2pm – 4pm.

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If you are a carer yourself, Sheffield City Council would also like to hear from you.  Along with their partners, they are updating the Carers Strategy and want you to be involved in this process. To find out more about this, you can read the relevant blog post which we published recently.

Equally, if you are a male carer, Carers in Sheffield would also like to have your views as they would like to know more about the kind of services which men who are unpaid carers need. With this in mind, they have produced a brief survey which they would like any male carers who are not already in touch with the Carers in Sheffield service to complete.  You can find out more about this survey and access the link to fill it in here.