B&NES Carers’ Centre, which has offices in Radstock and Bath, is celebrating after being awarded £415,934 in National Lottery funding to transform its services to reach out and help more carers.

he new grant, from the UK’s biggest funder of community activity, will see the Carers’ Centre develop a universal 24/7 support service and undertake work to bring care and the community closer together and help communities take better care of each other.

Janine Woodward-Grant, Deputy Chief Executive, said: “The number of carers in our area is set to increase by 60% over the next ten years. This grant will enable us to ‘think big’ when it comes to how we support this growing carer population to ensure all carers have the help they need, when they need it. The success of this project will also be shared with carers’ organisations across the UK, to help not only carers in B&NES, but

also the seven million carers across the UK. We are delighted the National Lottery have seen unpaid carers as something which we need to invest in.”

Cassie Robinson, Head of Digital Grant Making at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We are delighted to be able to support this diverse set of organisations as they harness digital technology in creative and forward-thinking ways, to both transform the way they operate, and the way that services are delivered across the voluntary sector over the long-term.

“Now, thanks to National Lottery players, these organisations can increase their digital capacity to have a greater impact in communities and support our sector to thrive in the digital age.”