Over half of carers say they require more recognition of their needs from councils, amid worsening mental health and high levels of overwhelm, driven by a lack of breaks.
Those were among findings published last week by Carers UK, taken from the charity’s latest State of Caring survey. This was carried out last summer, with responses from 12,500 people, 92% of whom were still in a caring role, with the rest former carers.
Most carers ‘overwhelmed’
Over a third (35%) of carers said they were in bad or very bad mental health, compared with 27% in the charity’s 2023 survey, while 57% said they were often or always overwhelmed.
Of those who felt overwhelmed, two-thirds (65%) attributed this to a lack of breaks; overall, 49% of survey respondents said they needed more time off from their caring role.
Fifty five per cent of respondents said they needed more recognition of their needs from their local authority, up from 46% in the 2023 survey.
Under the Care Act 2014, councils must assess carers who may have support needs, currently or in the future, and meet the needs of those who meet the eligibility threshold through a support plan that should be reviewed very 12 months. Similar rights exist in Wales under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.
Long waits and lack of support following assessments
Carers UK’s found that 23% of carers had had an assessment in the previous 12 months, though only 41% had sought help from adult social services for their caring role.
Of those who had sought help, 57% said they had experienced long waits for assessments or support.
Of those who had received an assessment, 42% said they had not been supported by their council subsequently, with 31% saying they had been supported and 28% not sure.
Among the group who said they had not received support, almost half (47%) said their assessment had identified support needs, but it had not been provided
Carers surveyed reported issues such as being given a direct payment or a voucher for a sitting service, but not being able to find care workers to deliver these services.
Several said that, contrary to their expectations, they had been signposted to other services rather than offered practical support directly by their council.
Carers UK said this chimed with the national picture in England. It NHS England data for 2023-24 showing that, of 360,815 carers provided with support, or assessed, by councils, 55% were only given information or advice and 15% not directly supported at all.
‘All councils must fulfil Care Act duties’
Carers UK chief executive Helen Walker said: “An increasing demand for social care services, together with a lack of funding for social care means that, all too often, replacement care and respite services are not available when carers need them.
“Far too many carers are not receiving adequate support, resulting in poor mental health and burnout. We need to see a clear plan for long-term, sustainable funding ensuring that all local authorities can fulfil their duties to carers under the Care Act 2014 and all carers can access high-quality social care when they need it.”
The charity also called for the government to urgently invest an extra £1.5bn in breaks and respite care services in England, with equivalent resources for the devolved nations, backed by legislation giving carers a statutory right to regular and meaningful breaks.
It also urged that the government ensure that “robust cross-government support for unpaid carers” was part of the terms of reference of the Casey Commission, set up to develop plans for the long-term reform of social care in England.
Better support for carers ‘should be part of funding solution for social care’
In response to the report, the Local Government Association (LGA) linked the problems it revealed to the need for improved resource for adult social care.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board said: “Councils recognise the enormous contribution of unpaid carers who provide vital support for thousands of people every day,” said David Fothergill, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board.
“Helping councils to better support unpaid carers should be a crucial part of a long-term and sustainable funding solution for social care.”
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If this or any subsequent Government injected a trillion pounds into the competition driven profit focused care services it would subsequently not be enough. Its so typical of the liberal mindset that it can never admit the fundamentals of a problem but wallows in the agonies of trying to contain it’s manifestation. A practically unregulated marketplace infected by large hedge fund domination will always swallow funding because its first priority is dividend payments and bonuses for executives not real investment in making services affordable let alone ‘customer’ focused’. It’s so predictable and almost comical that the response is always for more Government cash rather than calling out the price fixing cartels that leech on public funds with little regard to the quality or otherwise of the ‘product’ they peddle. Buy into the market economy and you are sucked into getting what the parasites think you deserve and pay the wack they hold you hostage to. In the meantime while the LGA gets out the annual begging bowl and the money floods into off shore registered tax avoiders, carers like my dad get patronised then ignored until the merry go round starts again. What incentive have councils to acknowledge how they also exploit the love and dedication of carers? None, because platitudes serve them well. Councils know that carers are always going to be the bit part players in the wider care services they know isn’t working but they are wedded to. The reality for carers is that much as professionals, and I include Carers UK under that umbrella, like to depict them as being outside of formal care services, they are not. My dad doesn’t get respite input because thresholds Council financial assessments set are determined by the budget they have set to pay for residential care. One is dependent by the priorities of the other. It’s not more complicated than that.
This is such a thoughtful contribution. It is true that Councils have a hierarchy of “priorities” at the bottom of which are carers. We can not isolate carers from how Councils choose to spend budgets on care services. Councils know carers will carry on looking after their loved ones whether they get support or not. They take that as their baseline when choosing where to spend. I too watch my mam struggle every with tying to care for and preserve the dignity of my dad. She had an assessment and was told she didn’t meet the threshold for respite care. When I asked some questions about the assumptions and the conclusions of said assessment, social worker questions, I was deemed “aggressive” and “hostile”. That’s the context in which social workers practice and that’s the context that forces them to forget how to be advocates.