Built by Carers in Bedfordshire · 20 years supporting carers
Everything your charity does for carers, in one place.
One branded platform replacing the disconnected systems most carers organisations run today: a carer portal, personalised action plans, outcomes across 8 life domains, messaging with a support worker and a referrer portal. Built by a carers organisation, from 20 years of frontline experience, and owned by one, so our profits go back into carer support.
A digital carer support platform your commissioned provider runs under their own brand, with personalised action plans, outcomes across 8 life domains, referrer tracking and trend reports you can actually use at review. Built by a carers organisation, not a software house, and owned by one, so the margin returns to carer support rather than to shareholders.
Configured within days. No bespoke build, no engineers, no waiting list.
Real product. After a wellbeing check, the carer chooses up to three areas to work on, each described in their own words.
- WCAG 2.2 AACurrent UK standard
- UK and EU hostedCarer data stays in the UK or EU
- Data protection by designYou remain the data controller
- Care Act aligned8 life domains
- Your brandYour URL, your colours
- Charity-ownedProfits fund carer support
Carers see their charity. Not us.
Each organisation's portal carries its own name, logo, colours and web address. This example uses a generic “Your Local Carers Service” brand. The platform underneath is the same for every organisation.
Note the search bar. Aisha, the assistant built into the platform, sits alongside the resource search, not in place of it.
The problem
Running six systems to deliver one service is not a strategy.
Six systems in. One PDF out.
A CRM here, a website there, a mailing tool, a booking form, a shared drive and a spreadsheet that only one person understands. Every handover is a re-key. Every report is a rebuild. And none of it belongs to the carer.
When a provider's carer journey is spread across six tools, the quarterly return is assembled by hand from whatever each tool can export. You get activity counts after the fact, not outcomes, not trends, and nothing that shows whether need was prevented, reduced or delayed.
One platform- Carer registration and a branded portal at your own URL
- Tailored action plans the carer builds and keeps updating
- Contingency plans shared with a support worker, family or friends
- Referrer portal with live status back to the professional
- Messaging with a support worker, with calls and appointments booked through Microsoft 365
- Outcomes across 8 life domains and trend reports for your commissioner
- Online groups, learning, secure messaging and a full audit trail
Product tour
Take a proper look.
These are screenshots from a working portal, not mockups, apart from the two views marked illustrative. Carers, referrers and your team each get a view built for what they actually do, sharing one record, one audit trail and one set of numbers.
It starts with how the carer is
Before anyone builds a plan, the platform asks a simple question and offers four honest answers. A carer who says they are coping gets a different path from a carer who says they are overwhelmed. The response is private, and it shapes everything that follows.
- Four options, from "feeling confident" to "struggling with my mental health"
- The answer routes the carer, it isn't just recorded
- Carers can return and check in again as things change
8 life domains, described the way carers describe them
The 8 life domains behind every plan and every report are not presented as clinical categories. They are written in the carer’s own words: "I struggle to make time for myself", "I’m worried about money and care costs". A carer picks up to three, so the plan stays achievable.
- Maximum of three areas at a time, deliberately, so it isn't overwhelming
- More can be added later, or a new plan started once tasks are done
- Each area carries its own library of tasks your team can extend
A support worker, a message away
A carer can message their support worker at any time, whether that is from the sofa late at night or from a hospital waiting room. They do not have to wait for office hours or hold on a phone line to ask. When there is a reply they get a notification, and they can see where their message has got to: who it has been allocated to, and when it has been resolved.
- Secure messaging from inside the carer's own portal, available 24/7
- A notification when a support worker replies
- Progress the carer can follow, from sent to allocated to resolved
- Book a call, or an appointment face to face or online, through your organisation's Microsoft 365
Illustrative. This view is drawn to show how messaging works. The status names are examples, not screenshots.
A living plan, not a form filed away
Tasks are grouped under the areas the carer chose, each with a time estimate and a priority. Progress is visible. The carer decides whether to share the plan with their support worker: it's a toggle they control, not a default.
- Versioned plans, so progress over time is visible
- Share, print or add tasks at any point
- Carers can add their own tasks alongside the suggested ones
- Aisha can suggest tasks, and the carer accepts, edits or ignores every one
Groups and learning, included
Carus runs two national online groups every month: a Wellbeing Connect group led by a trained Wellbeing Practitioner, and an Evening Carers Connect group for people who can only get to something after the day is done. Your organisation can add its own groups alongside them.
- Two national monthly groups included, plus any you run yourselves
- A learning hub with courses on guilt, stress, low mood, anxiety and wellbeing
- Carers use it at all hours, with usage peaking well outside office time
- A WhatsApp community can be linked from inside the portal
- Bookings for your local groups can be linked from inside the portal
The report your commissioner asks for, already built
Registrations, referral sources, action plans created, group attendance and movement across the 8 life domains, in one place, without anyone compiling it by hand. Because the carer journey sits in one system, the numbers come from the record rather than from a reconciliation exercise.
- Referrers self-register, submit, and see pending or approved status
- Automatic updates back to the professional, with no chasing calls
- Registered carers reported separately from "carer light" sign-ups
- Export to spreadsheet or Power BI when your commissioner wants their own format
Illustrative. This view is drawn to show the shape of the referrer portal. The other screens on this page are real product screenshots.
Safeguarding
The moment the platform stops.
“Now may not be the best time for you to create your plan.”
If a carer says they are overwhelmed or struggling with their mental health, Carus does not take them into a planning wizard. It stops, puts a phone number on the screen, and tells them there is no need to continue right now. They can change their answer if they want to, but the platform's default is a person, not a form.
That is what “digital support should be a gateway to human connection, not a replacement for it” means in practice. To prevent, reduce or delay, carers need human support first to be able to follow a plan and make lasting change.
Real screen. Triggered when a carer selects one of the two lower options in the wellbeing check.
The 8 life domains
Built around the Care Act, written for carers.
Every action plan and every trend report is structured around the same 8 life domains, but a carer never sees a clinical label. Select one to see how it appears in the product and what it reports.
Time for Yourself
Carers see: “I struggle to make time for myself”
I need a break and time to do things I enjoy.
Domain names and task counts are from the live product. Scores shown here are illustrative. In a real portal they come from carers' own check-ins and feed the report the commissioner sees.
Why Carus
Built for carers organisations. By a carers organisation.
A provider platform built by people who deliver the service.
Carus is a trading subsidiary of Carers in Bedfordshire, a service that started in a conservatory with volunteers and now supports 14,000 carers. Everything in the platform exists because a support worker needed it.
Carus is a trading subsidiary of Carers in Bedfordshire, a commissioned provider across Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton. The platform was co-produced with a carers panel and tested by the support workers who use it.
20 years of knowing what carers need
Not a generic platform retrofitted for charities. The action plan, the domains and the safeguarding routing come from two decades of doing this work.
A living plan, not a one-off assessment
Carers build their own plan, revisit it as circumstances change, and share a contingency plan with a support worker, family or friends.
Digital as a gateway to human connection
Not a replacement for it. A carer can message their support worker at any time and see the live progress of their query.
Safeguarding that respects your procedures
Light-touch concerns are recorded in the platform. Serious escalations go to your own safeguarding system. Carus supports your process, it doesn't replace it.
Your content, managed by your people
Local services, signposting and information are edited by your team or your volunteers, from home, without technical skills. Content auto-flags for review after a year.
Ticks the commissioner's boxes
A provider who can evidence identification, planning and outcome movement is a provider you can defend funding for. The data comes from the record, not from a spreadsheet.
In use
Tested by the people who use it.
The platform was co-produced with a carer advisory panel and tested by the support workers who work with carers every day. The structure, the language and the flow came from carers and practitioners, not from a technology team.
“Not just a website. Not just a portal. Your brand, your resources, your carers, all in one place.”
“Sometimes the only free time a carer gets might be in the hospital waiting room.”
Carus for Carers · built by Carers in Bedfordshire
Evidence
Early, and honest about it.
Carus launched commercially in Q3 2026. Here is exactly where we are, no more, no less.
Co-produced with carers
A carer advisory panel shaped the platform's design, and support workers who use it every day tested it before launch. The first-person language you see on the “choosing areas” screen came directly out of that work.
What we don't claim yet
We are one live partner into a commercial launch. We don't have multi-year outcome studies, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we do have is 20 years of frontline evidence behind the model, and a working product you can see today.
Who owns Carus
There are no shareholders to pay.
Carus is owned by Carers in Bedfordshire. There are no outside investors and no one taking a return out of it. Our profits go back to the charity and into carer support, which means the money you spend on Carus stays in the sector rather than leaving it.
Pricing
One annual licence, tiered.
Our pricing is tiered, and we will talk you through which tier fits your organisation. There are no per-carer, per-referral or per-transaction charges.
What every licence includes
Every licence includes the platform below, and improvements to it reach every organisation automatically. We may also add new developments over time that carry an additional charge.
- Carer portal, action plans, contingency plans and outcomes across 8 life domains
- Referrer portal, events, secure messaging, support notes and audit trail
- Call and appointment booking through your Microsoft 365
- Reporting, communications, knowledge base and service directory
- Two national online groups a month, plus any you run yourselves
- Learning hub content, maintained and extended centrally
We're opening a founding cohort of four carers organisations at a fixed, discounted rate that sits outside the standard tiers, with a seat on the steering group that decides what we build next.
Four places. One taken.
Talk to us about pricingBook a demo
See it with your own service in mind.
A 45-minute walkthrough with the team who run the service Carus was built for. We'll set you up a blank testing portal afterwards so your people can try it properly.
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