To our CSW community, we hope this message finds you well.
As you may know, last year Carers Together Wiltshire took over the council contract that we previously held. This change has brought many exciting opportunities for us to become more independent and focus on the work we feel most passionate about – making a real difference for carers like you. However, it has also come with some challenges, particularly the transition of funding for certain services to Carers Together Wiltshire.
One of the key changes has been around our Carer Cafés. Over the past year, we’ve been self-funding these cafés to ensure they remained available to support you, while the new service with Carers Together Wiltshire was settling in. Unfortunately, we can no longer continue funding them independently, as the necessary funds for these services are now with Carers Together Wiltshire.
To make sure these important spaces stay open for carers, we’ve worked closely with Carers Together Wiltshire to transition the majority of our cafés over to them as of April 2025. We understand how important these cafés are, and we are committed to making sure there is no disruption to the support you’ve come to rely on. Our primary goal is to ensure stability for carers, so you can continue to enjoy these vital spaces without interruption or added stress.
During and after this transition, we are excited to focus on developing new services and creating even more opportunities for carers like you to get the support you deserve! We will continue to offer our specialist support groups, including the mental health cafés in Salisbury and Trowbridge, our bereavement help points, and our new financial wellness hubs. Plus, we’ll be keeping our Amesbury, Calne, Ludgershall, and Warminster cafés running just as they always have, so those will continue without any changes.
We understand this may be unsettling, especially if you’ve been attending our cafés for a while, but we want to reassure you that we’re doing everything we can to minimize any disruption. In partnership with Carers Together Wiltshire, we’ve made the decision to keep all cafés at the same venues, times, and dates for the next three months. After this period, Carers Together Wiltshire will take over full responsibility for the cafés that are transitioning to them.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out – either email admin@carersupportwiltshire.co.uk, or leave us a message on 0800 181 4118. We are here to support you, and although our team is small, we will do our best to get back to you as quickly as possible.
Thank you so much for your continued support. We’re excited about this next chapter of Carer Support Wiltshire and hope you will stay with us as we work to create even more opportunities for the unpaid carer community in Wiltshire.
