Shaping the future of unpaid care: Bid to join the ‘Care Narratives’ project

Carers Trust is pleased to announce the tender for our upcoming project, Care Narratives, which is supported by the Health Foundation and Oxfam GB. We invite organisations to submit a bid for this project.

The aim of the project is to conduct research that will help us understand the narratives held by different audiences, specifically concerning unpaid care.

Additionally, the project seeks to identify which frames and narratives are most effective in shifting these audiences away from existing perceptions that keep unpaid carers invisible, undervalued, and unsupported.

Currently, these narratives often portray unpaid care as an individual, private duty rather than recognising it as a vital part of the health and social care system.

CARER NARRATIVE INVITATION TO TENDER DOCUMENTS

The research will be conducted in two strands:

Strand 1: Unpaid Carers

This strand will focus on supporting unpaid carers in advocating for their collective impact and contribution to society.

One intended outcome is to demonstrate that unpaid carers are taking on responsibilities beyond their 'private responsibility' and are, in fact, making a collective contribution.

Strand 2: The Wider UK Public

This strand will explore narratives among the UK public, particularly those who may be less familiar with unpaid care and unpaid carers.

We aim to investigate the narratives that prevent people from seeing care as an issue that governments should prioritise, and that limit public demand for collective change at the government level.

This strand will also explore which narratives could shift public opinion to advocate for increased support for carers at both national and local levels through policy and spending decisions.

The scope of work includes:
  • Audience insight through desk-based research
  • Audience insight through primary qualitative or quantitative research
  • Audience testing of alternative narratives
  • Developing a research output (such as a toolkit) that outlines new narratives on unpaid care that might maximize impact, based on the findings of this research.

To participate in the bidding process, please review the invitation to tender document below, which include detailed information about the project, submission guidelines, and evaluation criteria.

CARER NARRATIVE INVITATION TO TENDER DOCUMENTS

Key dates to note are:
  • Submission Deadline: 10 September
  • Invitation to Interview: w/c 16 September
  • Award Notification: w/c 23 September

We encourage you to submit any questions or requests for clarification. We will respond promptly to ensure all potential bidders have the necessary information.

Please submit your bid electronically to Andrew Russell and Beth Neale at Carers Trust (arussell@carers.org and bneale@carers.org) by the submission deadline.

We look forward to reviewing your proposal and potentially collaborating with your organisation on this meaningful project.

Thank you for your interest in the Care Narratives project. Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact Andrew or Beth.