Huntingdon carers can shape support at free workshop

Unpaid carers are invited to a free workshop at Huntingdon Library on Friday 18 September, from 10.30am to 12.30pm. The session will give participants a direct opportunity to influence the future of Adult Carers Support Services across Cambridgeshire.

The workshop is open to people who care for family members, friends or neighbours, as well as young adult carers and people with lived experience of caring. Anyone interested in attending should contact Cambridgeshire County Council at [email protected].

Organised by the council, the two-hour session is the first in a series planned between September 2026 and March 2027. Participants are not expected to attend every workshop; involvement is welcomed according to each person’s availability and interests.

Carers will help set priorities for future services

The Huntingdon workshop will focus on what future carers’ services should prioritise and the outcomes those services should seek to achieve. It builds on feedback that carers have already shared, while creating another route for people to describe what works, where difficulties arise and what future support should address.

Those experiences will contribute to decisions about how support is designed and delivered. They will also feed into the council’s wider commissioning plans—the process through which future care services and their intended outcomes are developed.

Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking input from a broad range of participants, including local organisations and others with an interest in supporting carers. The central focus, however, is the experience of people who provide unpaid care and understand the demands of caring responsibilities firsthand.

Cllr Graham Wilson, chair of the council’s Adults and Health Committee, said carers’ knowledge of the challenges and opportunities associated with caring is invaluable when shaping future support. He encouraged anyone with caring experience to contribute.

The Huntingdon session begins a longer programme

Further workshops are due to take place through March 2027, allowing participants to contribute at different stages of the service-design process. The council has not required people to commit to the full series, so carers can join sessions that match their availability or areas of interest.

The work also sits alongside the Big Conversation on Care, a national public conversation launched on 29 July. That initiative is gathering views about the future development of a National Care Service and how care and support could be provided in the years ahead.

For Cambridgeshire participants, the September workshop has a narrower local purpose: identifying priorities and helping define what the county’s future Adult Carers Support Services should achieve.

How to take part and request accessibility support

Anyone wishing to attend, ask for more information or discuss accessibility and communication requirements should email [email protected]. The council says it is committed to making the workshops accessible and inclusive and asks participants to raise their requirements when arranging to take part so that suitable support can be considered.

The event notice confirms Huntingdon Library as the venue but does not provide a street address or transport information. Participants who need those details should request them from the council when contacting the commissioning team.

Source: Cambridgeshire County Council