Legal and General Group: Care Sourcer Launches Free Health and Wellbeing Support for Over 800,000 UK Care Workers

KENT, England, Sept. 9 -- Legal and General Group, a provider of insurance, savings and investment management products, issued the following news release:

Care Sourcer, the UK's first comparison and matching site for elderly care, has today announced that it is launching a free Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to all UK care provider employees.

The free programme, provided through Health Assured and initially funded by Legal & General, is available to employees of both care homes and care-at-home providers.

Care Sourcer's EAP will provide a complete support network that offers expert advice and compassionate guidance 24/7, covering a wide range of issues including mental or physical stress, bereavement of residents they have formed close bonds with, money worries, and general low morale. Stress, depression, anxiety and sickness are highly prevalent amongst care workers and can force them to take extended time off work. In many cases, it leads to high turnover of staff.

EAPs provide invaluable support to help people taking time off work to deal with mental and physical stress and can even get them to return to work sooner. Care Sourcer estimates that around 800,000 care workers, many of whom face daily challenges such as stress and depression, will benefit from their EAP.

Care Sourcer is free for people seeking care and searches thousands of registered care providers across the UK to bring a tailored list of local care providers to users within 48 hours.

Legal & General will fund the EAP for the first 12 months of its operation. Last year, the FTSE100 financial services company announced it was investing pound sterling6m in Care Sourcer, before launching its care-focused Retirement Living Solutions division earlier this year.

Andrew Parfery, CEO, Care Sourcer said "Care workers are local heroes; they dedicate their lives to caring for others but often there is no one to care for them in their time of need. Stress and depression, a lack of confidence and anxiety are all big challenges facing people in the care workforce.

"At Care Sourcer, our goal is to use technology to help create a fairer care system that is easier for those seeking support to find the care their loved ones need, but we also want to get behind the UK's care workers. Many often go above and beyond to help the people they are looking after and we're proud to offer our support by providing this free EAP that can help those working in the care sector in their own time of need.

"Improving the retention of staff is central to creating a better care system. Our EAP will support providers to better the work-life balance of their caring staff, supporting them in their time of need, and ultimately help care homes and at home care companies to build sustainable, quality-driven businesses."

Richard Muncaster, CEO of The Care Workers' Charity, offered his support for the EAP, saying:

"Our own research shows that care workers often face challenges with finances, mental health, care needs at home, and not feeling valued, so news of a free employee assistance helpline for the sector is very welcome. Now all care organisations, regardless of budget, can offer care workers professional support to talk through any personal challenges, and provide guidance on how to get further help."

We invested in Care Sourcer as we want to help transform the care sector by making it better for both those in need of care and the care workers that work so hard to support thousands of people across the UK. Our Group Protection business has long supported EAPs as an effective initiative to tackle stress and depression amongst employees and ultimately help them return to work sooner. For Legal & General, supporting Care Sourcer's EAP launch is another positive step towards our long-term aim of building a better, fairer society for all.

Steve Ellis, CEO, Legal & General Retirement Living Solutions