Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they plan to develop a
national strategy for carers to take account of the needs of
unpaid carers.
(Lab)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper and draw attention to my interests as set out in
the register.
(Con)
My Lords, we have set out our strategic approach for supporting
unpaid carers in People at the Heart of Care, published in 2021.
The enormous contribution made by unpaid carers is reflected
throughout Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care,
published in 2023. Ministerial colleagues indicated last year
their intention to meet annually, in the run-up to Carers Week,
to share ongoing work to support unpaid carers and identify
opportunities to work together to achieve more.
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response. I never have any
difficulty getting agreement that carers are vital to our health
and social care system and should be supported, but I doubt if
the 5,000 carers just surveyed by Carers UK about a national
strategy will be very pleased with his Answer. They emphasise how
vital this kind of step change is if they are to be able to
continue caring while safeguarding their own health and finances.
What they, I and all those who work with carers want is a
national strategy that covers all relevant departments and is led
by the Prime Minister, as the last one was in 2008 by the then
Prime Minister, . This Government promised a
national strategy in 2015. Why are carers still waiting?
(Con)
I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for the work that she has
done and her lifetime service to carers and to the voluntary
service. We are fortunate to have her in this place. We will
continue to work together across government to support unpaid
carers. Ministerial colleagues and senior leaders from the
Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business and
Trade, the Department for Education and the Department of Health
and Social Care, as well as NHS England, met last year to share
ongoing activity and identify opportunities to achieve more.
Ministers indicated their commitment to meeting on an annual
basis, most likely in the lead- up to Carers Week. We recognise
the importance of continuing to improve data and evidence and
will note the results of the APPG/Carers UK survey, in addition
to other sources once available.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister has talked about a strategic approach and
meetings. What exactly are the Government doing to address the
disproportionate risk of poverty among carers? Where is the
strategic approach on that? Things are getting worse, not
better.
(Con)
This Government are fully committed to the 10-year vision for
adult social care set out in the People at the Heart of Care
White Paper. The Government have made available up to £8.6
billion of additional funding over this financial year and next
to support adult social care and discharge.
(LD)
My Lords, the support received by carers varies according to
where they live. Does the department have access to how many
unpaid carers there are and where they live? Does it hold
information about the ages of carers and those whom they are
caring for? If not, why not?
(Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness makes an important point. She is
right that we need to know where carers are. People at the Heart
of Care, published in 2021, addresses the identification of
unpaid carers by increasing the use of markers in NHS electronic
health records and by simplifying current approaches to data
collection and registration. In many communities up and down the
country, that works very well, but clearly there is more to be
done in other communities.
(CB)
My Lords, the Minister will recognise that anyone at any time can
have a major care role thrust upon them unexpectedly which can
transform their lives completely. When the committee that several
of us sat on took evidence from unpaid carers, one of the things
that astonished us was that carers felt so devalued. When they
took the person whom they were responsible for to hospital, they
were not even allowed into the consulting room with a doctor
because their status was not considered sufficient to allow them
in; it was only the patient who could go in. These carers said to
us, “What is the country doing to support unpaid carers?”
(Con)
The noble Lord is right, and indeed I have experienced that
position myself. If you take a loved one to hospital or to the
doctor’s, and the doctor’s surgery has been used to seeing the
patient over many years, they look at the carer and think, “Who
is this person?” Their records do not reflect things, and that is
simply not good enough. Registering a power of attorney with the
GP is one way of doing that, but we are a long way from having it
in place. It is incumbent on GP practices to get up to speed.
When they have patients on their records, there should be a clear
segment in the computer system so that if a patient turns up with
a carer the practice knows who the carer is and makes them
welcome.
(Con)
My Lords, there are some deep concerns—I have seen a number of
things on television recently—about actual children acting as
carers for their parents, when I think the normal assumption is
that carers look after elderly people or those who are
particularly disabled. Does my noble friend agree that we need to
be particularly careful to identify situations where children are
carrying out those functions, and assist them as much as
possible?
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right and raises an important
point. The Department for Education’s new data on young carers,
collected through the school census published last year, is an
important step towards improving their visibility in the school
system, allowing schools to better identify and support their
young carers. That will also provide an annual data collection to
establish long-term trends. We will consider the findings from
the census to inform the next steps.
(Lab)
My Lords, on International Women’s Day last week, Carers UK
stressed that older women aged 75 to 79 are providing the most
unpaid care—50 hours per week—and that there has been an alarming
increase since 2011 in women aged over 85 providing unpaid care.
These are not the women who come under the Government’s award of
one week’s unpaid carer’s leave from work, and neither will they
be first in line for the small amounts of respite care funding
that GPs have been allocated. How are the Government addressing
this situation, and what specific actions will be taken to help
to alleviate the terrible burden of care these women face?
(Con)
The noble Baroness raises a very important point and, as I have
already mentioned, the Government have conducted a census looking
at the data to identify those carers. Various groups of carers
all have different needs. My noble friend just mentioned child
carers, and the noble Baroness just mentioned carers of working
age; employers have to be sympathetic and understand.
(Lab)
It was over-85s.
(Con)
Also, it is challenging for those aged over 85. As I alluded to
in my previous answer, GP practices have to be able to identify
people in that age range so that they can work with social
services and the local authority to make sure that they are
supported.
The
The Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care, based on
conversations with many unpaid carers, recommended that there
should be a “New Deal” for carers including restorative breaks,
financial support and support from employers, including paid
leave and the right to request flexibility. Does the Minister
agree that any future national care strategy should consider the
need for unpaid carers to have flexibility in their paid
work?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate raises an important point, and we
welcomed the report he referred to. The Department for Business
and Trade is bringing in a new leave entitlement of one week,
available to all employees, including those working in adult
social care, providing care for a dependant. This is on top of
existing statutory holidays. The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 and
flexible working regulations will come into force on 6 April.
Under the Act, eligible employees will be entitled to one week of
unpaid leave per year. This is just the start. The right reverend
Prelate is absolutely right: good employers should recognise when
employees need time off, because it will happen to the employers
at some stage in their lives.
(LD)
My Lords, I will pursue the point on the healthcare needs of
unpaid carers and how the NHS treats them. The Government’s White
Paper on adult social care reform had a range of measures
including voluntarily used markers to identify unpaid carers in
NHS health records. That was about their own health needs, not
about supporting the health needs of those whom they were caring
for. What progress has been made in this vital area?
(Con)
As People at the Heart of Care put it in 2021, we set out a
strategic approach to empowering unpaid carers, and in October
2023 the Department of Health and Social Care launched an
accelerating reform fund. It provides almost £43 million over
2023-24 to support innovation in adult social care and services
for unpaid carers. This takes forward our commitment to invest
£25 million to bolster the care services that support unpaid
carers.
