Local Solutions champion our everyday heroes for Carers Week
We were pleased to welcome our charity partner Local Solutions onto campus during Carers Week (9 - 15 June 2025).
This year the charity, which runs Liverpool Carers Centre, is lifting the lid on Liverpool’s everyday heroes, showing the city just how many hidden heroes are quietly keeping life going behind closed doors as unpaid carers.
Unpaid carers make up one of the largest – and most overlooked – workforces in the country. In Liverpool alone, over 50,000 people are caring for someone they love, whether it’s a parent, partner, friend or neighbour.
They cook meals, manage medication, chase prescriptions, help with dressing, provide emotional support – and still manage the rest of life on top. Often without a break. Often without even a “thank you.”
Most people don’t recognise themselves as carers. They just say they’re being a son, daughter, friend or neighbour. But they are carers, and they deserve support, recognition and a bit of kindness too.
Hazel Brown, Head of Communities at Local Solutions
This year’s national theme is “Caring About Equality” – highlighting the everyday inequalities unpaid carers face, from financial hardship and isolation to reduced access to healthcare and education. Even just 10 hours of caring a week can take a serious toll on someone’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
At the heart of the campaign is the Liverpool Carers Centre – a vital service offering advice, emotional support, wellbeing activities, short breaks and a listening ear. The service supports thousands of unpaid carers across the city each year.
The Student Life Building at LJMU was just one location that the team has visited this week alongside shopping centres and local hospitals, speaking to carers, chatting with the public, and sharing uplifting stories from people who’ve found strength, resilience and joy in their caring roles.
“We’ve met carers who’ve gone from total burnout to building social lives, careers and confidence again — just from knowing they weren’t alone,” Hazel adds.
“Sometimes, all it takes is someone asking, ‘How are you doing?’”
Alongside the citywide outreach, one of the most heartfelt moments of the week is taking place quietly, on doorsteps across Liverpool. The Local Solutions team are personally visiting 300 newly registered carers, delivering a small but meaningful token of appreciation – a “Hug in a Mug” pack. These doorstep visits are more than a gift; they’re a warm welcome into the carers' community, and a powerful reminder that no one has to care alone.
“Whether someone’s cared for 10 hours or 10 years, we want them to know: we see you, and we’ve got your back,” says Hazel.
More about Local Solutions
Local Solutions, a charity launched in 1974, delivers services to support individuals, families and communities across the Liverpool City Region and North Wales, focusing on supporting people experiencing disadvantage, exclusion and vulnerability. They became a charity partner at LJMU at the start of 2025.
