Introduction to the toolkit
  A life outside caring - what can you do?
  Research
  Resources
  Some useful websites
   
 
 
 

Research

Key research into carers and employment was commissioned by ACE National from both the Centre for Inclusion at Sheffield Hallam University and Leeds University.

Who Cares Wins:
The Social & Business Benefits of Supporting Working Carers
(Sheffield Hallam University, 2006)
One in five people gives up work to care, often with associated loss of income, pension and long term financial security and with losses to their employers in terms of both human resources and their replacement.
More than a Job
Working Carers: Evidence from the 2001 Census
(Leeds University, 2006)
2.5 million people in England and Wales combine unpaid caring for a partner relative or friend with paid work. 1.5 million carers work full time and of these 140,000 care for 50+ hours per week.
Caring for Sick or Disabled Children:
parents’ experiences of combining work and care
(Contact a Family and Sheffield Hallam University, 2006)
the particular challenges of combining work and care for parents of sick or disabled children
 Managing More than Most:
A statistical analysis of families with sick or disabled children
(Leeds University, 2006)
Parents of sick or disabled children face significant challenges in entering or remaining in paid work. These challenges are often little understood by employers, service providers and policy makers. This report explores statistics about caring for a sick or disabled child and its impact on parental employment.
We Care – Do You?
(Sheffield Hallam University, 2006)
This summary of research evidence identifies the most urgent priority for carers and employers as: the development of enhanced services which enable carers to work by meeting the needs of those they care for.
  

The carers’ perspective

In partnership with Carers UK and SCIE the four Supporting Carers’ Beacon Authorities (Hertfordshire, Rochdale, Sefton and Sunderland) made a DVD to support the training of front-line staff in carrying out effective carers' assessments.  Trainers, managers and front-line staff had identified a need for a video-based tool to support training.  While the best option is always to involve carers as trainers, the reality is that this may not always be possible, and this DVD ensures the carers' voice is powerfully heard.  View it here

Carers UK produced a training pack to accompany the DVD, here
These supporting materials are designed for trainers, but can also be used, with the aid of the DVD, to assist self-directed learning for any staff working with carers, and particularly those carrying out carers' assessments.

Care to Take a Look: Delivering Effective Policies for Carers

This resource, available online or as a download from here  is a powerful audio visual aid to organisations wanting to increase their knowledge of carers and caring and to develop and deliver effective policies.  For local authorities and other statutory agencies, it provides material that will assist them both to operate good employment practices and, importantly, to understand the benefits of delivering effective support services that enable carers to carry on their vital work.
Care to Take a Look includes

  • Basic facts – an overview of carers:        
  • Employment, Health and Money - insights into the issues facing carers
  • A self-assessment tool for organisations to check the progress they are making around carers’ issues
  • Regional statistics – information provided for each local authority area or parliamentary constituency
  • Life course tool – this interactive tool profiles four individuals
  • Case studies – the situations of six carers are presented

The National Carers Strategy/New Deal for Carers

Our Health, Our Care, Our Say the White Paper published in 2006 promised an update of the 1999 National Carers Strategy.  This commitment was taken forward through the launch, a year later, of a package of measures to enhance services for carers called the New Deal for Carers.  This provides

  • £25 million to local authorities in England and Wales for emergency support for carers
  • £3m for a national advice and information service
  • £5 million to establish the expert carers programme

Alongside this package of measures a national consultation exercise was been launched as part of the review of the existing Strategy.

In February 2007, Carers UK undertook a large scale survey of carers to establish priorities for a new strategy.  The survey identified recognition from professionals as the single most important priority for carers.

The full results are here  

CSCI’s Performance Assessment Framework

The consultation document A New Outcomes Framework for Performance Assessment of Adult Social Care set out proposals for implementing an assessment framework based on the seven social care outcomes that were part of the White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say.  The proposals were highly significant for carers as for the first time weighting was given to the element of Adult Social Care’s performance that related to carers.  This was to be 15% of the total score.

While these proposals have not been fully implemented, ACE, the Beacons and ADASS are working with CSCI to develop the carers’ element of the Self Assessment Survey for 2008.  Work so far includes the three good practice tools listed below which may prove helpful for local authorities who want to anticipate the sort of analysis of their performance in delivering services to carers which CSCI are likely to request.  These materials can be found on the IDeA Beacon website here or click on the individual link below to access them directly

Balanced scorecard for service delivery

This tool is designed to assist authorities in pulling together data that should be readily available into one central location.  This will help demonstrate a range of activities that support carers and ensure C62 is seen in context of an overall strategic approach.

Balanced scorecard for carers strategies

This tool is designed to assist authorities in identifying how their carers' strategies are delivering on the seven strategic outcomes of the White Paper. It will also give a structure for discussions with business relationship managers on these issues.

Carer survey

This tool is designed to make it easier for any authority that does not already have a routine process for getting carer feedback.  The aim is that questionnaires like this may one day form the basis of a national measure of how local authorities are delivering actual outcomes, rather than simply measuring processes.  Some authorities are already beginning to use this questionnaire.

Self assessment tool

This tool was designed in 2006 to assist local authorities with social services responsibilities to see how far they have progressed in dealing with carers’ issues as a service provider/commissioner, as an employer and in co-ordinating a multi-agency carers strategy

 
Home