Celebrating Carers Rights Day 2025 – “Know your rights, use your rights”
The theme this year is “Know your rights, use your rights”. This day is a call to recognise and celebrate the vital contribution of unpaid Carers and to ensure that you – the Carers we support – are empowered with the knowledge, tools and support you deserve.
Why this day matters
There are an estimated 5.8 million unpaid Carers in the UK – people providing care to a partner, family member, friend or neighbour without being paid. Many Carers do not recognise themselves as Carers, and may miss out on the rights and support available. Knowing your rights is not just about legal entitlement, it’s about safeguarding your wellbeing, protecting your role as a Carer, and enabling the person you care for to receive the best support.
What rights should Carers know about?
Here are some of the key rights and entitlements you should be aware of:
- The right to a Carer’s Assessment: if your caring role is affecting your life, you have the right to ask your local authority for an assessment to identify support for you.
- The right to be identified as a Carer: for example, on GP records, and to access immunisations or health checks.
- Employment-related rights: you have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment, and under the new framework you can change arrangements more than once a year.
- The right to challenge when your rights are not being met: whether that is discrimination in the workplace, being left out of decisions about the person you care for, or transitions between children’s and adult services.
What we at Forward Carers are doing…
As a values-driven social enterprise dedicated to recognising, valuing and supporting unpaid Carers, here’s how we are marking this Carers Rights Day:
Events (online & in- person) across our regions (Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Dorset and Wiltshire) to help you understand your rights, ask questions and access support.
- Measurement and impact focus: we will track how many Carers access the sessions, how many undertake a Carer’s Assessment after the event, and how many report feeling more confident in exercising their rights in our service areas over next 12 months.
- Testimonies & case-studies: sharing real-life stories of unpaid Carers we support, to highlight the difference that rights awareness can make.
Why it matters for Carers and whole families…
For the Carer: this day and ongoing work is about you – your health, your potential to carry out caring in a sustainable way, your ability to have a life outside caring.
For the person you care for: when you are supported and empowered, the quality of care improves, the relationship is stronger, and the whole family benefits.
For services & businesses: recognising and supporting unpaid Carers reduces hidden costs, prevents crises, and builds resilient, Carer-Friendly communities. Indeed, Carers underpin our health and social care systems, and deserve to be “seen, heard and supported”.
How you can get involved
- If you are a Carer (or think you might be) — book into one of our Carers Rights Day sessions and use the day to gain information and advice or: “What rights am I entitled to? Am I using them?”
- If you are an employer or organisation — join us in promoting Carer-Friendly policies, sharing resources, and making your workplace one where Carers are recognised and supported.
- Share your story: whether via our social channels or email us — your voice helps others realise they are not alone.
Closing thoughts
On this Carers Rights Day we commit to standing with you: helping you know your rights, feel confident to use them, and supporting you to live a life beyond caring. As one of our partners said recently: “When Carers understand their rights, everything changes.” We look forward to working together to build Carer-Friendly Communities where unpaid Carers are truly recognised, valued and supported.
