Action for Carers and Employment

TheParliament.com spoke to Imelda Redmond of Action for Carers and Employment about national carers week in conjunction with Carers UK.

It is 'carers week' in the UK this week - what activity is Carers UK involved in to mark this?

As usual, 'carers week' is a busy week. On Monday we are launching the week with a major conference, held at BT's offices in London.

Ivan Lewis, minister for care services will be speaking. We'll discuss the review of the National Carers Strategy and use an interactive session to get the views of professionals and policymakers about what the strategy should contain.

I'll also be dashing off to Brussels on Tuesday to attend the launch of Eurocarers. This is an organisation which we have set up to take our fight for carers' rights to the heart of the European Union.

We estimate that there are 100 million carers in the EU and with other countries facing a similar demographic trend to the UK, it is vital that we join together to campaign and spread best practice.

Local groups and branches are running hundreds of events locally around the UK.

On Wednesday Gordon Brown is hosting a reception at Number 11 for MPs, peers, carers and carers’ organisations. He has taken a real interest in carers' issues since he launched the review of the National Carers Strategy in February.

Why is 'carers week' so important and what are the key issues you are seeking to highlight?

'Carers week' is the biggest week of the year in terms of raising awareness of carers, identifying hidden carers and making sure that carers are aware of the support that is available to them. With seven national partners and over 4,000 events taking place around the country, we can really make ourselves heard.

This year’s theme is 'my life as a carer'. We'll be highlighting the huge impact that caring has on carers' finances, health, career and social life.

What is your view on last year's review by Sir Derek Wanless on the funding of long-term care?

The Wanless review was a hugely important piece of work and really opened up the debate about how we, as a society, will pay for social care in the future. Carers are currently the bedrock of social care – providing more care than health or social services put together – and I’m glad that this now being recognised.

We need a social contract between individuals and the state, with both sides contributing to the costs of supporting elderly and disabled people.

I believe that more resources are needed for social care immediately, but that we must also reform the system for the long term.

The 'State of social care' report from the Commission for Social Care Inspection reported in January that things are actually getting worse for many families as eligibility criteria are being tightened and services reduced.

We also need to change the way that care is delivered to make it more flexible and accountable, so that it fits families lives, rather than the other way round.

How do you think government should deal with the ageing population.

The ageing population means that we will have fewer working age people at the same time as those people are needed to provide care for elderly relatives. Our most recent research report, 'Real change, not short change', shows that working age carers are really struggling to balance work and care.

Nearly seven in 10 carers aged 55 to 59 have given up work to care. We need greater flexibility from employers and social care services that support carers to stay in work.

We're also going to need to cope better with the care needs and choices of older people. The independent living agenda is vitally important – we should base policy on the assumption of independence, rather than incapacity. In particular, we should harness new technology such as telecare which both older people and carers to live independent lives.

What should welfare to work look like for carers, and does this fit in with the Freud review?

Employment services should recognise the unique challenges that carers face and should support them to retrain or to find flexible work.

Health and social care services are critical for carers to be able to work, in the same way that childcare is to parents. The system should also recognise that some will not be able to work and should give them an adequate income. 

At the moment carers are ignored by the welfare to work agenda. We’ve just submitted a detailed response to the Freud review which is available on our website. The issues raised by the review are complex but we must have a social care system there so that carers have a choice about working and we must ensure there is sufficient income for those who don't. 

The system must recognise that we need a system where we need people to care and to work. A policy which compels carers to work without the right support or understanding of the challenges that they face will be disastrous.

Tony Blair, as prime minister, took an interest in carers. Will you get the same kind of attention from Gordon Brown?

I hope so. There have been improvements over the last 10 years and Tony Blair showed his interest from the start by launching the National Carers Strategy in 1999. But of course there is still a long way to go. We will work with whoever is in government to end poverty, discrimination and ill health among carers.

Gordon Brown has a track record in promoting equality and social justice. He also has a good understanding of the demographic and equalities arguments. He seemed very inspired by a carer, Jill Pay, who he met in February so we hope to build the relationship. He launched the review of the National Carers Strategy back in February and he's invited carers to Number 11 at an event to celebrate 'carers week'. 

What are your views on the January 2006 white paper, 'Our health, our care, our say'?

The white paper contained a number of measures for carers and earlier this year the government announced the funding that they would receive. The general direction of travel and core principles should lead to an improvement in carers' lives if investment follows.

The New Deal for Carers gave us some specifics. We were really pleased to see £25m to support carers in an emergency, £3m for a national advice and information service and £5m for an expert carers programme to train carers in skills that they really need such as advocacy and negotiation.

The white paper also announced that the government would review the National Carers Strategy. We had been calling for this since 2004 and wanted government to take stock of progress over the last 10 years and set out a radical vision for the future.

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