Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
ensure that unpaid carers receive the support to which they are
entitled.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care (Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford) (Con)
My Lords, we are committed to supporting carers to provide care
in ways that protect and preserve their own health and
well-being. Last June, we published the Carers Action Plan, a
cross-government programme of targeted work. This included a £5
million carers innovation fund, to encourage innovative and
creative ways of supporting carers. We are also working with
local government on a sector-led improvement programme of work
focused on implementing the carers Act duties for carers.
(LD)
I thank the Minister for her Answer. As Carers Week draws to a
close, I point out that we owe a great debt of gratitude to the
6.5 million carers in the country who save us more than £100
billion a year, given the costs that we would otherwise have to
bear. The problem is that nearly three-quarters of those carers
say that they suffer mental health stress as a result of their
caring duties, and over 60% say that they have physical health
problems. Will the overdue Green Paper on social care put
sustainable funding in place to properly provide support for
carers and ensure speedy access to health services for them?
of North Oxford
I thank the noble Baroness for her important Question. I suspect
that the majority of noble Lords have not only been carers
themselves but have benefited from caring. I would not be
standing here myself were it not for the caring support of my own
family. We should pay tribute to carers up and down the country,
without whom we would not have a sustainable health and care
system. I assure the noble Baroness that proposals for putting in
place sustainable funding to support carers, and considering
their employment status, are part of the work that is going on in
implementing the long-term plan and preparing the social care
Green Paper. I hope that reassures her.
(Lab)
My Lords, a growing number of older people are providing unpaid
care while trying to manage their own health and care needs, in
many cases co-caring for each other with partners, adults or
children with learning difficulties. In particular, there is an
alarming increase in the number of carers aged 85 and over, who
are more likely than other carers to be caring round the clock,
be suffering anxiety and be in poor health themselves. What are
the Government doing to ensure that these carers are getting the
vital social and community help they need? Are they still the
priority, as was promised in the NHS five-year forward view?
of North Oxford
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. She is absolutely
right that we need to ensure that we target support at those who
need it most, but that we also identify those who are carers
within the community, because of the burden that we know caring
can impose on the health of those who are caring. That is why the
Carers Trust has been undertaking research into best practice in
identifying carers and targeting support. It is also why the
Department of Health and Social Care has been working with local
government on a sector-led improvement programme of work focused
on the implementation of the carers Act duty for carers. We have
just begun phase 1 of this and we are implementing phase 2 to
ensure that best practice is disseminated across the system, so
we can deliver on the commitments we made within the carers plan.
The Lord
My Lords, I am sure that we all want to encourage stronger family
and community life, which is the very bedrock of healthy
societies, but there is one group in particular that needs help
and that is the 166,000 underage carers in England. Research by
the Children’s Society suggests that that is just the tip of the
iceberg—indeed, a huge underestimate. Many of these young people
do not realise that they classify as carers: it is just what they
have had to deal with. In many cases it is affecting their
schooling and mental health. What are Her Majesty’s Government
able to do to help and support underage carers in particular?
of North Oxford
The right reverend Prelate is quite right to identify this as a
crucial issue. The Government believe that children should be
protected from inappropriate and excessive caring
responsibilities. We changed the law to improve the way that
young carers are identified, and we are supporting schools to
support carers and working with the Carers Trust to identify and
spread best practice. Just today, working with the Children’s
Society, which he rightly says has led this project to identify
and disseminate best practice, guidance and resources will be
published to enable young adult carers to make positive
transitions between the ages of 16 and 24. We hope that this will
improve the outcomes that young carers experience.
(Con)
My Lords, I am delighted by the Carers Action Plan, which is a
very important piece of work for many thousands of carers in the
country. Can my noble friend say exactly what progress is being
made in implementing this plan and how success will be measured?
of North Oxford
I thank my noble friend for this important question. The Carers
Action Plan was a real step in the right direction. It has 64
action points and good progress has been made. There will be a
progress report in July. Some key steps in it are promoting best
practice for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and
other providers in order to give carers much-needed breaks and
respite care, which can be the difference between coping and not
coping; and providing carer-confident benchmarks for employers
who can identify carers within their systems and give them the
support they need. Of course, there is also the work I have
already mentioned: the £5 million carers innovation fund to find
more creative and innovative ways to support carers, who are so
crucial to our health and care system.
(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that any future proposals for
the funding of social care need to be sustainable? Any proposal
that requires the burden to fall on those who need social care or
their families will not be sustainable and will therefore require
contributions from wider society.
of North Oxford
I completely agree with the noble Lord, , who is absolutely right
that we must ensure that we sustainably fund social care. The
Government have provided £3.9 billion more in dedicated social
care funding, but we recognise that there is a need for a
sustainable financial footing for social care as a whole, which
is what we are working towards with the spending review.
Nevertheless, carers will continue to play an important part in
our healthcare system, as they do within our society. Many people
consider that they are making a rewarding and important
contribution within their family and community, and we must be
grateful to them for that.
(Lab)
My Lords, the implication of what the noble Baroness has just
said is that the work around the Green Paper on a sustainable
mechanism for funding long-term care is focused on the medium and
long term. If that is so—and I think the Minister could say
something about the actual remit of the work—the question then
arises, what about the short term? We know that the money she
talked about is a drop in the ocean compared to the money that
has been taken away from social care, alongside the increasing
demographic pressures. Can she tell me whether, as part of the
spending review, which I assume will occur at some point, the
immediate pressures are also going to be taken care of?
of North Oxford
The noble Lord will know that the spending review has not yet
started, so I cannot tell him what is happening in the
negotiations. What I can tell him about is the work that has
already gone on to improve social care funding: giving local
authorities access to around £10 billion more in dedicated
funding for social care from 2017-18 to 2019-20; an additional
£410 million of new money to improve social care for older
people, people with disabilities and children; and £240 million
more for winter pressures. However, the noble Lord is absolutely
right that it is no good improving the medium to long-term
outlook for social care if we do not ensure that we also address
the immediate challenges that it faces.
(LD)
My Lords, the right reverend Prelate mentioned one group of
carers. I would like to ask about those from the BME community,
many of whom do not know about the benefits to which they would
be entitled—the carer’s allowance, for example, and even the
national insurance waivers that come with it. What are the
Government proactively doing to support them?
of North Oxford
This is a really important question, because the carer’s
allowance has increased and is available as a non-means-tested
support. I can reveal today that one of the key issues that is
being looked at as part of the social care Green Paper is
ensuring that financial support and employment status for carers
are clearer, so that they can access all the support they are
entitled to, but also to try to make things simpler.
(Con)
I declare an interest as a former Mental Health Act commissioner.
While we are talking about carers, there is a considerable number
of people who are caring for members of their family who have
been suffering from mental illness and are now in the community.
Would my noble friend not agree that we should be more concerned
to give assistance there as well, rather than merely to those who
care for people with physical ailments?
of North Oxford
The burden of ill health, anxiety and depression is an important
issue that has been clearly identified, and it can be caused by
caring for a loved one. There is specific evidence about the
threshold at which the number of hours spent caring causes such
challenges. My noble friend is right that we should not only
identify those who are caring but signpost them clearly to the
support available for carers and make sure that they can access
that care easily.
