Rotherham Council and ‘Crossroad Care Rotherham’ have come together in a new scheme to help unpaid carers get support during the Pandemic.

The two organizations have combined on a new scheme that funds and supports individuals and families providing care for loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scheme has already allocated £50,000 to 147 unpaid carers in Rotherham and has now made a further £25,000 available.

Rotherham Council Cabinet Member for Adult Services, David Roche said: “The funding that is being made available aims to reach out to local unpaid carers to ensure their rights and support needs are met, in the same way as they would be for the people they care for.”

The scheme provides care in multiple ways such as counselling sessions, wellbeing contact calls, IT support, new technology and small grants available.

Nicola, a Rotherham mum who has a son with Asperses Syndrome received help from the scheme that managed to get a laptop allowing her to do online food shops during the pandemic, she also received the wellbeing pack of gifts.

She said: “The wellbeing pack enabled me to have a treat for myself which is rare, it felt special”.

‘Crossroad Care’ is Britain’s leading support provider for carers, they work with over 35,000 families nationally but not all areas have introduced such a scheme.

Megan-Lily Marielli, 18 and a freelancer from Northampton, is a carer from her younger brother Jacob, 10, who has Down’s syndrome and a mental age of about 4.

Mrs Marielli said: “it was like we had a baby for 5 years… my dad is only 30 and he went grey months after having Jacob”.

Jacob was diagnosed weeks after birth and is emotionally challenged, he needs support changing, eating and washing and often throws tantrums when confused.

The COVID pandemic made life increasingly stressful as he is high risk.

Mrs Marielli said: “The support would be very handy to give us an opportunity to build a better support network around Jacob”.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the Rotherham branch of Crossroad Care as outstanding back in 2019, getting the top grade on Safe, Effective, Caring and Well-led assessments.

The project is now eager to help more people in Rotherham and are welcome to applications, find out more at www.crossroadsrotherham.co.uk/contact-us