Training and support measures for carers are set for a £4.4m boost through 11 awareness-raising and capacity-building projects rising from the ashes of the Caring with Confidence programme.
In an exclusive interview, care services minister Paul Burstow revealed details of targeted measures to improve awareness of carers among frontline professionals and give charities such as Carers UK the means to provide training themselves.
Linked with this will be an initiative to provide grants of up to £25,000, out of a £1m total allocation, to patient group charities such as the Stroke Association to embed support for carers in their work.
Burstow said the government believes this will pick up carers who are otherwise being missed, although he would not comment on the future of the carers' grant, which many fear will be slashed in the spending review.
"This is direct investment in frontline charities and into better awareness and training for frontline staff to improve that identification of carers in the first place and it means more carers will get help," he said.
Some of the money is going to charities such as the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, Carers UK, the Afiya Trust and Crossroads to ensure they are fully equipped to support and identify carers earlier and provide them with the right level of support.
There will be a programme of training places for GPs through the Royal College of GPs, while another will provide more training and briefing for health and social care workers through the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
The £4.4m Caring with Confidence programme was designed to improve support for carers and was due to reach 27,000 carers by the end of March 2011.
It was axed in July amid claims that carers were poorly targeted and that it did not deliver on the numbers of training places, although it also had its supporters.
Burstow sees the reinvested money as working alongside a refreshed carers' strategy, which is due out in November.
This is due to have a clearer emphasis on the early identification of carers and the earlier self-identification of carers.
It is also connected to work being carried out by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on greater flexibility in terms of work.
In this context, Burstow said the Department of Health wanted support measures to ensure people can stay in jobs rather than leave when caring responsibilities loom. There will, however, be little extra money.
This is Burstow's first ministerial post and comes at a time when his room for manoeuvre has been curtailed by severe spending restrictions.
During the Liberal Democrat conference he attacked councils for cutting eligibility for services and has consistently argued that through increased personalisation more could be done for less, while at the same time increasing choice and control.
Burstow said: "There are things that local government should be doing first before it starts shutting the door and tightening its eligibility criteria."
He will reveal how local government should perform when he unveils his vision for adult social care next month, which will in essence be a platform for greater personalisation.
Burstow refused to accept it would not be deliverable because of spending constraints. Some experts argue that as the budgets are cut, the amount of choice will diminish.
He said: "Our view as a government is that more direct payments, more personal budgets will open up the possibility of far more providers, far more organisations to provide the support that people actually want."
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This factsheet sets out the Government's position on social care funding and carers, in response to BBC
research on the impact of the ageing population.
On social care funding
Minister of State for Care Services, Paul Burstow said:
"We know that urgent reform of the social care system is needed. That's why we established an independent Commission to consider how we ensure affordable and sustainable funding for care and support for all adults in England. The Commission will report to us in July next year and we will bring together its findings with other work we are doing on care and put proposals before Parliament.
"To bridge the gap until we have reformed the system, we have taken action to ensure that health and care services are prepared to meet the pressures of the aging population. The Department of Health is investing extra money in social care - rising to £2billion a year extra by 2014/15. This means that no council needs to reduce access to social care due to an increase in the number of older people."
On councils' budgets for social care
Minister of State for Care Services, Paul Burstow said:
"The Coalition Government has prioritised social care - the Spending Review announced significant extra funding for social care for each of the next four years, increasing to an extra £2billion investment in 2014/15.
"This extra money means that no council need reduce access to social care or fail to meet demographic pressures, if councils improve efficiency and drive forward with reform to make services more personal and preventative.
"We are investing in reablement services that get people back on their feet after a stay in hospital. By using telecare and developing preventative services, councils can cut their costs, reduce pressure on the NHS and improve the quality of life of their residents.
"Local authorities will have greater freedom and flexibility to determine how best to use their resources and they must ensure that the investment in social care is reflected in the services provided."
On personal budgets
A DH spokesperson said:
"The Government is committed to extending the roll-out of personal budgets to give people and their carers more control over the care that is funded for them. The vision for adult social care, which will be published shortly, will provide further detail on how we plan to do this."
On respite care for carers
A DH spokesperson said:
"Later this year, the Government will publish a revised Carers Strategy that will remind health and social care services in England that it is very important that carers get breaks from their responsibilities."
Background:
The Government is updating the Carers Strategy and will produce a clear plan of action for 2011 to 2015 before the end of this year. This will set out the key activities on which the Government — working in partnership with Local Authorities, the NHS, employers, the voluntary sector, local communities and carers — can focus from April 2011, within the context of the 'Big Society' and the capacity of the community to support and empower people.
We have received around 750 responses to our call for evidence about what are the most important priorities on which the Government should focus in the coming years. We have heard from individual carers, from voluntary sector organisations, from local authorities and from health bodies.
Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced in October that over £4million is being reinvested across eleven projects to provide training for carers. The Government is investing in a range of projects for carers including:
• £1.8million funding to a range of third sector organisations supporting carers, including the Afiya Trust, in recognition of the particular needs and challenges faced by carers from ethnic minority communities.
• Over £1million funding for training and raising awareness of carers for key health and social professionals, including GPs and practice staff.
• £1million funding for a grant scheme aimed at encouraging bids from illness specific organisations wishing to do more to support carers.
A raft of new measures that will help support carers were unveiled by Care Services Minister Paul Burstow today.
More than £4 million will be reinvested in a range of projects from training schemes for health and social care workers to access to better information.
The funding made available following cancellation of the contract for Caring with Confidence, provided training to carers as the programme did not deliver the benefits expected for the funding committed.
There are a range of new activities, one of which is a scheme that will fund voluntary organisations to reach out to carers. It will particularly focus on early contact with those who are taking on a caring role for the first time through a variety of settings such as hospitals, places of work and supermarkets.
This will build on existing networks already used to support people with specific conditions, in keeping with our overall approach to integrate carers' issues within wider health and social care provision. It will also provide carers with key information and practical advice about how to care effectively and safely for people with specific conditions.
Other projects that will be funded include:
Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said:
"Identifying and supporting carers at an early stage is critical. The financial outlook is extremely challenging so we must make sure the money we have is working harder for us.
"The Caring with Confidence contract was not good value for money. This is why I am announcing a raft of measures today, that will reinvest more than £4 million to get local authorities and the NHS spotting and responding to carers' needs earlier to prevent poor social outcomes and ill health and help them care more effectively.
"We need better information and advice, allowing people to negotiate the system more smoothly. And we need better support to help carers stay in or get back to work, as many would like to do.
"The Coalition Government is committed to improving support for carers and this funding is evidence of that.”
Chief Executive of Carers UK Imelda Redmond CBE said:
"We welcome this measure launched today. It is critical that the Coalition Government understands the vital contribution that carers make in looking after older, sick and disabled people. In times of tight public expenditure, there will be increased expectations that families will take on greater caring responsibilities.
"Our work with thousands of carers throughout the UK shows that both their health and finances suffer if they are not identified early and do not have support quickly enough. Time and time again, good information and advice comes up as a key issue that they need to keep them healthy, in work and help prevent poverty."
Ends
Notes to Editors
Training key health and social care workers via Deputy Regional Directors: £1m. The importance of ensuring that social and health care staff recognise the needs of carers and how to meet these needs was identified within the Carers Strategy and is a key strand of its implementation. These funds will support the training of social and health care staff. £1m has been allocated this year. The allocation has been apportioned based on the number of councils in each region.
Support to Princess Royal Trust for Carers: £508,000. It has been awarded funds to support programmes of activity to: enable its centres to be more effective with emerging market conditions in a manner that ensures their ability to continue to serve carers; and to put in place a programme of local support to carers to enable them to exploit the personalisation agenda effectively.
Support to Crossroads Care: £500,000. Crossroads Care have been awarded funds to: rationalise its delivery structure, improving its response to carers and reducing management costs; and the development of tools in order to support working with GP commissioners and therefore engage effectively with the emerging healthcare arrangements.
Supporting to Carers UK: £499,410. Carers UK have been awarded funds to: better secure its sustainability in the future; and develop a range of support to employers to reduce the incidence of carers losing employment and improve their changes of gaining employment.
Supporting, through training by Partners in Policymaking, a network of carers' champions: £150,000
Training for GPs and other practice staff: £90,000. This Royal College of GPs will be commissioned to deliver up to eight training events on carers' issues to GPs and practice staff (reaching some 200) in the current financial year. This training will enable GPs and practice staff to better understand and meet the needs of carers.
Support to ADASS: £160K. Various projects including partnership working.
Support to the Afiya Trust: £118,750. The Trust has a history of creating benefit for carers of minority ethnic heritage. This funding will support the Trust to expand and develop its work, leading to more effective support to carers.
Dissemination of CwC materials: £100,000. Whilst we have put the Caring with Confidence materials in the public domain to support future provision of this training by local commissioners and providers, we need to ensure that they are aware of its availability and how they can make use of it.
Understanding how web-based resources can better support carers: £37,000. This project will examine how web-based resources may support carers and disseminate the results of this understanding widely to encourage greater use of web-based resources in the support of carers.
Development of support for carers by condition specific voluntary sector organisations: c£1m. The development of support for carers among condition specific voluntary sector organisations. We are planning to launch a specific grant scheme in 2010/11 to encourage condition specific voluntary sector organisations (eg Stroke Association, Parkinson's Society, Cancer Research, MS Society) to undertake projects that would support the early identification of carers and signpost them to relevant advice, information and support. This would complement and assist the proposed initiatives to increase awareness among GPs and early identification of carers. It would quickly provide direct help to carers from sources that they are likely to access when a condition is first diagnosed
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Pressreleases/DH_120506