This Carers Week, it's time to recognise and support the crucial work done by local carer organisations

Since 2010 – and arguably before – those tasked with providing public services have been faced by hard choices. And in recent years, with the starvation of social care budgets, the effects on some of the most vulnerable in society has been stark. 

Our major area of concern is the health of local carer services, our network of 133 local charities who provide essential services to the nation’s unpaid carers.

Collectively, these services reach over 1.1 million people and, in many cases, keep them afloat through a mix of advice and guidance, counselling and wellbeing support, social groups, education and employment activities, plus much needed respite. Carers are also able to access small grants through us, with millions of pounds distributed each year.

Local carer services have existed in some shape or form for over 50 years, but have been a very under-recognised part of the public service landscape.

As we mark this year’s Carers Week, this must change.

Carers are at the sharp end of a lot of pressures. Local government is, in effect, rationing access to care – not because it wants to, but because it has no choice. The impact of that is that more and more friends and family members are having to pick up the slack.

The disability benefit changes coming down the track will hit carers hard. Many are already in poverty - not surprisingly given that 40% are forced to give up work and another 23% reduce hours to fulfil their caring role. The UK Government’s own modelling shows the potential cost to carer incomes at over £1 billion over the remainder of this Parliament and £0.5bn a year thereafter.

We then have Wes Streeting’s planned NHS reforms. If you think about it, that desired shift from ‘hospital to community’ is going to have huge implications for unpaid carers. The Government wants more people treated at home, often via ‘virtual wards’, with the unpaid carer asked to oversee medication, intimate care and, increasingly, complex medical technology. 

The Government wants more people discharged from hospital promptly, quite understandably, but this is only possible when there is a willing family member or friend able to provide the care they need.

The upshot of this is that the unpaid carer workforce is likely to rocket. At the moment we have around six million unpaid carers UK-wide. These figures are expected to top seven million by the end of this Parliament, including around one million young people under the age of 25.

So we are going to have maybe 10% of the UK looking after someone with a care need. Of course, in some cases the caring responsibility will be relatively light. However, in about 1.5 million cases, we have friends and family members providing 50 hours or more of care per week – hard complex care in many cases. And who is going to care for these carers?

This is where local carer organisations come in, usually long-standing charities deeply embedded in their local communities.  Their services are becoming ever more vital, but they are inconsistently funded and often a little understood part of the local social service infrastructure.

Collectively our network of local carer charities has a £135m turnover, but we are seeing an increasing number run into financial difficulty.  A major theme has been a refusal (or inability) by local commissioners to provide contract uplifts to cover inflationary costs, National Living Wage levels or, this year, the rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions.  

Another has been requests for local carer organisations to do more for a lot less.  That’s undoubtedly a theme across a lot of sectors, but this comes at a time when we have more carers looking after people with more complex conditions and for a longer period.

In the face of money pressures, some local authorities have been seduced by the promise of cut price digital service offers. This simply doesn’t work. Having a digital offer is important, particularly for carers who just need advice and guidance.

But when more than that is needed, there is strong evidence that private digital service providers cannot provide effective referral pathways into local carer services.  That means no access to respite, social inclusion activities, therapies, education or employment support or small grants. It also means a much increased chance of that caring relationship breaking down.

So what does the future hold?

The future for local carer organisations is, to a great extent, in the hands of local councils. Far thinking local authorities will cherish them and forge strong local partnerships. In the best cases, local government and the NHS co-commission their services and will be able to see the impact they make on things they care about – quicker hospital discharge, reduced GP admissions, less breakdown of the caring relationship, better mental and physical health of the carer, more likelihood of the carer being able to do well at school, college or to remain in the workplace. Better outcomes; stronger community.

But once these organisations are lost, they’re lost, creating even more of a postcode lottery of support than we already have.