CORNWALL Council is launching an all age carers’ advice service in Cornwall and is inviting carers to help choose a name for the new service.

The service, which will provide support for all unpaid carers of all ages, is being delivered jointly by Action for Children, working with Cornwall Rural Community Charity and Cornwall’s Family Information Service.

Angela Andrews, Cornwall Council’s senior commissioning manager for education, health and social care, said: ‘We recognise the key role played by carers in Cornwall and are committed to providing them with the support they need. The aim of this new service is to provide a consistent high quality service which meets the needs of all our carers, regardless of the age of the person they are caring for. We will be working with partners to provide carers with access to the integrated and personalised service they need to support them in their caring and help them to have a life of their own alongside their caring role.

‘We also want to improve the way we identify young carers and assess both their own and their family’s needs. The new service will support children and young people with caring roles to ensure they enjoy life and achieve their potential and utilise the strength of families to reduce the number of young people that have to take on substantial caring roles.’

The name of the new service has yet to be decided and the council is asking carers for their views on two options: Kernow Carers — caring for those who care, or Kernow Carers’ Service — support for those who care.

Email your views on the two options to [email protected]

The council anticipates that at least 8,000 carers a year will receive one-to-one support from carer support workers, with around 2,000 new carers a year identified by the service.

The new service begins this month. There is a new freephone telephone number for the Carers’ Helpline on 0800 587 8191.

The carers website is currently being finalised and sits on the Support in Cornwall website. This can be viewed at www.supportincornwall. org.uk/kb5/cornwall/ directory/home.page

A specific section for carers can be found at www.supportincornwall. org.uk/carers

The contract term is three years with the option to extend for a further two years.