Respite Care for Family Carers in Lewisham

The Glass Mill hub has closed: where Lewisham carers go now

The Carers Hub at the Glass Mill Leisure Centre has closed while the building is refurbished. Support for adult unpaid carers in Lewisham is run for the council by the charity Imago (0300 373 5769, ucwellbeing@imago.community): free advice, emotional and money support, peer groups and training.

In place of the single hub, the council's carers page lists four neighbourhood drop-in hubs, with no need to book:

• Waldron Health Centre, Amersham Vale, New Cross SE14, on Fridays.
• Ladywell Day Centre, 148 Dressington Avenue, SE4, on Tuesdays.
• St Luke's Church, Grove Park, BR1, on Wednesdays.
• Sydenham Library community room, 210 Sydenham Road, SE26, on Tuesdays.

Check current times before you go. There is also a Carers' Forum at the Civic Suite in Catford, or online, on the last Tuesday of every other month. Young carers are now supported by the council directly (youngcarers@lewisham.gov.uk).

How do I get a carer's assessment in Lewisham?

Phone Lewisham Adult Social Care on 020 8314 7777 and choose option 1, or email gateway@lewisham.gov.uk. It can be face to face, by video or by phone, and you can bring someone with you or ask for an interpreter. Imago also offers carers' assessments.

It looks at how caring affects your health, work and relationships, whether you can carry on, and what happens if you suddenly cannot care. If you are eligible, the council agrees a support plan, which can be paid as a direct payment. Ask for a needs assessment for the person you look after at the same time, because breaks for you are often arranged as care for them.

Is respite care free in Lewisham?

Partly. The carers' service and the carer's assessment cost you nothing. Care arranged for the person you look after is means-tested through their own financial assessment: for care at home, Lewisham's page on paying for care in your own home says anyone with more than £23,250 in capital pays the full cost, and people below that pay based on disposable income after a protected allowance. Private respite is paid in full. We give a written figure after our home assessment; our guide to paying for care in London explains the rest.

Breaks at home, from an afternoon to a fortnight

• The same afternoon each week. One regular carer, with personal care and medication support if needed, so you can work, get to a hub or simply sleep.
• A sit-in for something that cannot be moved: your own hospital appointment, a funeral, a wedding.
• A live-in short stay. A carer moves into the spare room for a few days or a couple of weeks while you go away. Whole terraces in Hither Green, Catford and Lee, and the Downham and Bellingham cottage houses, often have the room.

A weekly break at a fixed time is easiest for us to staff in the streets nearest SE13, such as Ladywell, Hither Green, Lee and Catford. If you are in Forest Hill, Sydenham or Downham at the far end of the borough, give us as much notice as you can, and for a week away consider a live-in short stay, which the distance does not affect. In a controlled parking zone, the council's free carers' permit, applied for with a GP or medical letter, lets a visiting carer park for up to four hours a day.

A day at Ladywell or Calabash, and cover for the rest of the week

Two council day services give carers a regular break. The Ladywell Dementia Day Service on Dressington Avenue takes people with mild to advanced dementia and is fully wheelchair accessible. The Calabash Centre on George Lane has served older people for decades, especially elders of African and Caribbean heritage, with a new provider from July 2026. Both are on the council's day opportunities page and are usually reached through a needs assessment.

Day centres do not cover evenings, weekends or the morning rush. We can: a visit to get someone washed, dressed and ready, or a Saturday sit-in. For dementia care we aim to send the same carer each time.

Breaks away from home: Shared Lives and our supported living homes

Lewisham's Shared Lives scheme matches people who need support with an approved carer who has them to stay in their own home for a few days, weeks or longer. Ask about it at the needs assessment.

We also run three supported living homes that can take respite stays, in Whitton, Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge. All three are across London. Kingston is the nearest, roughly 50 to 70 minutes by car via the South Circular, or 75 to 90 minutes by train via Waterloo. A break at home is usually more practical, but if a stay away suits the person better, ask about availability.

What we can help with in Lewisham

• Regular visits so you can rest
• Live-in cover while you are away
• Planned breaks booked ahead
• Cover if the main carer is unwell
• Dementia-aware respite
• Short stays in our supported living homes
• Help with the carers' assessment route
• A care plan the family agrees