Care Workers' charity paid out over £1m worth of grants for struggling care workers in 2021

In 2021, £1,061,138 of Covid-19 emergency fund grants were awarded to 1897 care workers who struggled with daily costs of living, mental health and wellbeing and financial support whilst isolating from Covid.

The Impact Report for 2021, published by the Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) states that a total of 1121 Covid-19 Emergency Fund Grants were awarded to care workers totalling £611,426 and 666 crisis grants were awarded totalling £350,716.

Karolina Gerlich, chief executive of The Care Workers’ Charity says: “We’re really pleased to share our journey over the past 12 months. We have continued to support social care workers in crisis with crisis grants and covid-19 Emergency Grants.”

February 2021 also saw the launch of CWC’s Mental Wellbeing and Health support in association with Red Umbrella providing care workers with up to ten support sessions with a qualified therapist. CWC awarded 70 Mental Health & Wellbeing Grants totalling £86,964 and paid for 40 Mental Health First Aid courses totalling £12,032.

'The grants from CWC have made a huge impact on the home care workforce over the past 12 months'

Mental health of care workers continued to suffer as they dealt with low pay, burnout and exhaustion, compulsory vaccinations and the stress of working long hours and covering for ill colleagues or vacancies. Care workers’ mental health was on a decline at the start of the pandemic, and CWC saw many instances where they felt they needed support and tools to help them cope, not only with being care workers but also in their personal lives.

Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association said: “The grants from CWC have made a huge impact on the home care workforce over the past 12 months, at a time when care workers have been under intense pressure.

“Working with CWC on the first-ever Celebrating Homecare event was a fantastic collaboration. It was wonderful to highlight the dedication and commitment of the home care workforce and their vital contribution to society by enabling people to live well at home and flourish in their communities.”

Despite another challenging year for social care, CWC says there is still much which needs to be done to address the issues which affect care workers which include the rise in national insurance, gas and electricity being likely to cost 50 per cent more and the rising inflation rates.

Ms Gerlich said: “We anticipate the closure of the COVID-19 grant at some point this year, though precisely when isn’t clear – and who knows what may happen with new COVID-19 variants?

"We will continue to offer Crisis Grants, Mental Wellbeing and Health Support, and Mental Health First Aider training. We hope to offer new grant streams to reflect the issues affecting care workers, but this is reliant on funding, and the current environment is both exciting and a challenge.

“The need for our support is as great as ever post covid and we are so grateful to our sponsors, supporter members and fundraisers for helping us to help those in need”