What Different Words and Terms Mean

Here are some common words and terms that people may use when supporting you in your Caring role.

​

Advocacy: The term used to define the action of someone undertaking unpaid long-term support for a vulnerable person, ensuring that the vulnerable person's interests and opinions are heard.

​

Domiciliary Care: Care inside or outside your home for Adults, helping them when they need support. This can be personal care or practical care.

​

Direct Payments: These allow you to receive cash payments from your local authority so that you can make the purchases instead of care services. Direct payments were introduced to give people much more flexibility and greater control of their support package and to help people live more independently.

​

Residential Respite: This is where you can book a room in a residential care home for your cared-for. This could enable you, the Carer, to go for a holiday or just to take a break and relax. This could be in a residential care home, or in one of many other options, such as in supported housing.

​

Replacement Care: If you are going away, the local authority can pay for care workers to provide care for a short period to support the person for whom you usually provide care.

​

Safeguarding: This is everyone’s responsibility. It is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland to denote measures to protect the health, wellbeing and human rights of individuals, which allow people — especially children, young people and vulnerable adults — to live free from abuse, harm and neglect.