Carers Week: East Lothian Council Become a Carer Positive Employer

Jun 11, 2021

The second of our Carers Week award presentations; on Thursday we were deighted to present an Enagged Award to East Lothian Council.

Manager of the Carer Positive scheme, Sue McLintock, had the following to say about East Lothian Council’s application and award:
"We are especially thrilled during Carers Week to recognise East Lothian Council as our latest Carer Positive Engaged employer. This not only helps send a strong message of support and commitment to staff who are carers, but also helps raise awareness of the challenges facing carers in the wider community.

Through access to flexible working and other practical support, the Council demonstrates a workplace culture which values carers, helping them balance the their working lives with caring roles at home.  I am also delighted to know that the Council is keen to progress this support and look forward to working with them on this journey."
 

Monica Patterson, Chief Executive of East Lothian Council made this statement regarding the award:
I’m pleased that we’ve achieved Carer Positive ‘engaged’ status – it gives us a very good foundation on which to build on in developing our support for staff.
"Carers provide support for people with a range of needs and we know that many find it fulfilling and rewarding. But we know it’s not always easy and can impact on the choices people have to make, as well as health and wellbeing.

As a major employer, we know that we have carers within our workforce and we’re very much committed to supporting them.
We have achieved Carer Positive ‘engaged’ status, which means that we still have scope keep developing our support for staff who are carers.

I’m hugely grateful to our teams in the Council and Health and Social Care Partnership for their great work.
We’re proud to be among the 200 organisations to have achieved this status and national recognition."
 

We were also joined at the online presentation by Councillor Shamin Akhtar, Cabinet Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, who was keen to acknowledge everyone who worked hard to create a Carer Positive working environment at the council:


"This is very well-deserved recognition of the work East Lothian Council has put into reflecting the needs of carers, and those they support, within our organisational culture.
Being a carer can be rewarding but, in many respects, challenging and so it’s really important that practical support and signposting is available to those who need it.

I’m very grateful to our teams who have put a lot of work into securing Carer Positive ‘engaged’ status and I look forward to us making further progress as we move forward."

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