Please read below some words from CSG explaining what they are about, and how you can get involved in making positive change for carers!

Who cares? Southampton Carers’ Steering Group do.

We’re a group of unpaid adult and parent carers. We’ve been working for several years with Southampton City Council on their new Carers’ Strategy – Caring Southampton. Now it’s written and approved, we need to make it happen, even in these dire financial times.

Like to join us?

Come and share your carers’ experience, to help shape Southampton’s health and social services to be the best they can be.

We meet every two months, to discuss issues that impact our lives and those we care for, and make sure our carers’ voices are heard when important decisions are made.

Southampton Carers’ Steering Group – further details

The Southampton Carers’ Steering Group (CSG) is looking for new members to help strengthen its work. We are an informal, friendly and inclusive group who meet normally once every two months. The group is open to all unpaid adult carers (including parent carers) and we are keen to attract a wide range of people who share our aims.

Our meetings are held virtually, through Microsoft Teams, to avoid spending time and money on transport, and to allow carers to be with their cared-for person during meetings. For anyone who’d like to participate but doesn’t have online access or is not confident about using it in this way, we can offer support and help. We may also consider holding meetings face to face on occasion, possibly as social events.

The CSG was originally set up by Southampton City Council to help them develop new ideas and directions for the Council’s new Carers’ Strategy. That strategy is now approved, so our role now is to work with the council on putting it into effect, despite the council’s dire financial situation. We aim to act as a channel for a wide range of carers’ voices, raising issues that impact Southampton’s carers, and influencing, monitoring and co-producing solutions with the relevant stakeholders.

Issues include:

• Improving local decisions by ensuring a carers’ perspective is heard and understood by the relevant services and organisations;
• Highlighting gaps in services;
• Sharing carers’ experience, knowledge, and skills with each other across the City
• Contributing to the agenda and work of the bi-monthly meetings of the Southampton Carers’ Partnership Board.

If you would like to hear more about our work, please contact us. We can talk to you individually and/or invite you to attend one of our meetings to experience how we work. We appreciate that it may be difficult to attend every meeting, as we’re all carers, so we work to help each other stay in the loop.

Contact for further details / enquiries: Jo Payne j.payne@southamptonvs.org.uk