For Carers’ Week, which took place between 10-16 June 2024, the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) published a blog exploring the concept of “hidden carers”: people who do not identify themselves as carers, or who do not feel comfortable using the term to describe themselves.

In the blog titled “Family or carer – or both? Putting hidden carers on the map“, CPEC researcher Amritpal Rehill explains his own mother’s experience of realising that she was, in fact, a carer:

“While arranging my grandmother’s flu jab, the doctor asked my mother if she, as her carer, wanted one too. My mother replied, “But I’m not her carer, I’m her daughter.”
The doctor gently corrected her, saying, “Well, as her daughter AND carer, you might consider it.”
This simple exchange made my mother realise that she was indeed a carer, even if she hadn’t thought of herself that way before.”

Read more in the full blog on the CPEC website.

For updates on CPEC’s publications, outputs and activities, follow the Centre on LinkedIn.