Better Care Fund failing many carers, says charity
A new fund set up to bring together health and social care and benefit unpaid carers is resulting in huge inconsistency in support, says leading charity Carers Trust.
The charity examined 45 of the 151 plans developed by Health and Wellbeing Boards, the bodies charged with implementing the £130 million Better Care Fund, to look at how they plan to use the fund to improve the support they give to carers.
Carers Trust found that the funding set aside by the boards for carer support, varied greatly depending on where they lived, with nominal spending ranging from just £5.40 per carer to £66.33. Some local plans did not provide specific examples of how they would support carers, despite being allocated the money to do so.
Funding for social care services has already experienced a £1.1bn cut since 2010, increasing the pressure on the nation’s carers. Whilst Carers Trust is pleased that the Better Care Fund is a step towards addressing the needs of carers and the people they care for, it warns that a failure by Health and Wellbeing Boards to specify exactly how carers will be supported will result in the carers’ health being affected too.
Dr Moira Fraser, Director of Policy and Research at Carers Trust, said:
“The Better Care Fund offers real potential in addressing the needs of carers and preventing admission into hospital for the people they care for. However, our research shows that the local plans show unacceptable levels of variation in the amount of money available to support carers.
“We are also concerned that many health and wellbeing boards did not outline how they were going to support carers specifically as part of the Better Care Fund and we urge the government and local boards to act on our findings.”
The report is also pressing for better consultation between carers, the people they care for and the voluntary sector.
Carers Trust said many of the boards did not describe what plans they had in place to support carers and recognise the vital role they play when patients are discharged and how they can prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, provided they are given the support they need.
The charity is also calling on the government to make further funding commitments to carers once the £130m ends in March 2016.
