Linda D’oyley, Crown Prosecution Service – 28/8/2020
My name is Linda D’oyley and I have worked in the CPS since 2001. I have been a carer since January 2014 when my parents and grandmother ‘Nan’ moved to be nearer to me so that I could help to care for my Nan who was in her 90’s and had Alzheimer’s disease which is a progressive condition which means the symptoms develop gradually over the years.
I changed my working pattern to compressed hours so that I could look after my Nan every Monday to give my parents who themselves were in their late 70’s a much needed break on a regular basis which was so important for their mental and physical wellbeing.
My Nan died in March 2015 aged 98. Soon afterwards my parents’ health and then later that year my husband’s all started to deteriorate due to various health conditions and I am now the carer for three loved ones.
The CPS introduced the Carers Passport and signed up to the Carers Charter in 2018. The passport enables a carer and their manager to discuss and document the flexibilities needed to combine caring and work. The aim is to minimise the need to re-negotiate these every time an employee moves post, moves between departments or is assigned a new manager.
The passport is designed to be a living document that is reviewed every year and in response to any changes in the nature or impact of the caring responsibilities.
As part of my day job in D&I I was running some focus groups to better understand the issues faced by our staff who were in the 50+ age group. One theme kept coming up – looking after aged parents or a spouse who need caring. Interestingly few of these colleagues considered themselves ‘carers,’ they were just looking after mum or dad – or sometimes both. The key issues were balancing work with urgent hospital appointments or unexpected issues with care arrangements and being stressed about those they cared for whilst at work.
Promoting the Carers Passport was key to opening discussions with managers and acknowledging that the role of being a carer was important and needed to be recognised. Balancing work and caring meant that colleagues could stay in employment and not have to make some tough choices.
As a result of these discussion I formed the CPS Carers Network. I have to admit I was not overwhelmed with interest, but the CPS did push on with promoting the support that we provided carers and I was also a member of the Cross Government Carers Network and regularly posted blogs via our Carers Champion to update colleagues.
However, since lockdown we have relaunched our network and been busier than ever! We’ve held two virtual ‘care for a cuppa’ events and have another planned for August. It seems that the lockdown has brought a new set of problems and we know our members have benefitted from being able to share experiences and talk about issues in a safe environment.
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