A SCOTS charity is supporting unpaid carers using an innovative local gift card initiative.
Dundee Carers Centre are providing unpaid carers with Scotland Loves Local Gift Cards allowing them to take time for themselves, recharge, or reconnect with a hobby.
The Dundee charity aims to improve the lives of unpaid carers of all ages by giving support, advice and access to learning.
Carers can use the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card to access a variety of products and services, including food and drink, shopping, accommodation and leisure activities.
Dundee Carers Centre said their Short Breaks offering is personal to the carer, with the local gift cards used to offer flexibility and choice to people.
Marthe Hastie, Team Leader at Dundee Carers Centre Short Breaks Service said: “Our main objective when supporting a carer to access Short Breaks is that the break must be personal to that carer.
“When the Centre received a small amount of funding which was ring fenced to provide Short Breaks with the criteria that it was to be spent locally, we started using the Dundee Gift Card, part of the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card initiative.
“Carers identified they wanted to do something that was available through the card such as going for coffee and cake at a local café.”
Scotland Loves Local is managed by Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP), with support from the Scottish Government.
STP chief officer Kimberley Guthrie said: “The Scotland Loves Local Gift Card offers a huge range of choice for recipients to spend their gift on a meal out, a trip to the shops, fantastic local experiences, or household items – and allows them to take pride in spending with local businesses.
“The Scotland Loves Local Gift Card is a gift to the whole community.”
Working like a regular debit card, the gift cards are available for regions across Scotland, including Dundee, Glasgow, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute and South Ayrshire, and can be spent locally with all types and sizes of local businesses in that area.
Dundee Carers Centre is a Respitality Delivery Partner, a Scottish Government supported project coordinated nationally by Shared Care Scotland.
They connect hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses who are willing to donate short breaks free of charge to unpaid carers.
