EdgeWorks™ Care Academy is launching an initiative aimed at partnering with Local Authorities to provide unpaid carers with the opportunity to access our high quality e-learning portfolio free of charge. The programme will be launched early in 2011 and will be co-ordinated at a local level, accessed via a dedicated website and co-branded with each local authority partner.
Figures released by Carer’s UK, place the total number of unpaid carers currently numbering around 6 million, many of whom experience a wide range of health, social, financial and career barriers. This number is expected to increase significantly over the coming years.
Here at EdgeWorks™, we have first hand experience of the size of this problem, frequently receiving calls direct from carers, often in some distress and looking to access our e-learning course’s to help them develop their knowledge in specific areas such as autism and dementia so they can better support their dependants and loved ones.
Although we are keen to help, we recognise that we are not best placed to support individual carers and provide the wide range of advice and support they require. However, through our partnership with local authorities we hope to be able to provide one small piece of the jigsaw towards helping them develop their knowledge, understanding and possibly gain accredited qualifications to recognise the invaluable work they provide.
In order to kick-start the initiative, we aim to get local authorities on-board, providing them with access to a dedicated website along with up to 50 free user licences to be assigned to unpaid carer’s within their region.
In the first instance, we will be limiting participation to 20 local authorities, some of whom will be our existing client’s, to enable us to evaluate the overall operational effectiveness of the programme with a view to rolling out nationally later in 2011.
If you work within a local authority and would like to participate in this exciting initiaitive then please feel free to contact us directly on 0330 995 0840 or via our online form.