A study examined the price ordinary families were paying by caring for family members with drug problems – resulting in financial hardship, loss of employment, breakdown of family relationships, and psychological stress. At least 1.5 million adults caring for relatives with drug problems were bearing a 'hidden burden' valued at at least £1.8 billion.
Source: Alex Copello, Lorna Templeton and Jane Powell, Adult Family Members and Carers of Dependent Drug Users: Prevalence, social cost, resource savings and treatment responses, UK Drug Policy Commission (web publication only)
Links: Report | Briefing | UKDPC press release | PRTC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report called for the introduction of a 'credits for caring' scheme, under which carers would receive cash credits based on the amount of care they provided to help sustain them in their role. It said that 1 million carers would get extra support, and over £0.5 billion in new money would be available for carers if the system were adopted.
Source: Crediting Carers: Building Society to Care, Princess Royal Trust for Carers (020 7480 7788)
Links: Report | PRTC press release
Date: 2009-Nov
A report said that approximately £40 million of the £50 million allocated by the government to support for carers was failing to reach carers. 80 per cent of new monies given to primary care trusts in 2009-10 had not been used to increase support for carers as was intended.
Source: Primary Care Trusts and the Carers Strategy, Princess Royal Trust for Carers (020 7480 7788) and Crossroads Care
Links: Report | PRTC press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Oct
The Standing Commission on Carers (an independent advisory body) published its first annual report. The report concluded the first stage of the Commission's work (2007 to 2009) and highlighted progress made against the main themes of the national carers strategy.
Source: Report of the Standing Commission on Carers 2007 to 2009, Standing Commission on Carers/Department of Health
Links: Report | SCC press release | Hansard
Date: 2009-Oct
Researchers examined employment support that enabled carers to combine work and caring. Carers obtained a wide range of support from formal and informal sources such as the National Health Service, social services, voluntary organizations, family and friends, as well as the Department for Work and Pensions. Workplace support was inconsistent and most carers in the study felt that employers had a predominantly passive approach.
Source: Sarah Vickerstaff et al., Employment Support for Carers, Research Report 597, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that carers who applied for social security benefits faced a 'complicated and confusing' system. Around one-fifth of those carers who received benefits said that they had experienced difficulties claiming.
Source: Supporting Carers to Care, Forty-second Report (Session 2008-09), HC 549, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Carers UK press release | PRTC press release | Alzheimers Society press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Sep
Researchers examined how local authorities in England spent their carers grant allocations between 2005 and 2007. Carers grant had been crucial for many local authorities in enabling them to develop and deliver services for carers.
Source: Gary Fry, Christopher Price and Sue Yeandle, Local Authorities' Use of Carers Grant, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Aug
Campaigners said that younger grandparents caring for their grandchildren and their own elderly parents were increasingly being caught in a poverty trap. One-third of grandparents aged under 55 were struggling financially.
Source: Julia Griggs, The Poor Relation? Grandparental care: where older people's poverty and child poverty meet, Grandparents Plus (020 8981 8001)
Links: Report | PRTC press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jun
The Children's Commissioner for Wales published the findings of research into young carers. Key findings included: 37 per cent of young carers felt that their opinions were not respected by others; 52 per cent had felt they could not cope during the previous week; and 73 per cent of those who administered medication had never received any training.
Source: Full of Care: Young carers in Wales 2009, Children's Commissioner for Wales (01792 765600)
Links: Report | CCW press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that children with caring responsibilities were often 'unidentified, unsupported and without a voice'. Too few young carers who helped to care for their disabled parents were known about or receiving support in the eight local councils areas in England visited.
Source: Supporting Young Carers: Identifying, assessing and meeting the needs of young carers and their families, HMI 080252, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | PRTC press release | Action for Children press release | Childrens Society press release | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined whether and how couples shared the provision of informal care for their parents. Spouses shared many parts of their care-giving: but this arrangement was less common with respect to personal and physical care. The more care was required, the more likely were people to participate in care for their parents-in-law. Own full-time employment reduced both men's and women's caring for their parents-in-law, and men's caring dropped further if their wife was not in the labour market. Children-in-laws' informal care-giving might decrease in the future because of women's increasing involvement in the labour market and rising levels of non-marital cohabitation in mid-life.
Source: Ursula Henz, 'Couples' provision of informal care for parents and parents-in-law: far from sharing equally?', Ageing and Society, Volume 29 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A report said that adult children were giving up the equivalent of a full-time working week each month – at an annual cost of almost £4,000 – to care for an elderly parent or parents.
Source: The Cost of a Parent, Liverpool Victoria (01202 502204)
Links: Liverpool Victoria press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report examined the economic impact of support projects for young carers. There were 'significant' financial savings in social support – £6.72 for every £1 invested in the projects. But young carers had an increased probability of being 'at risk' themselves through their caring role: they had an increased probability of missing out on education or training, a greater danger of developing mental or physical health problems, and a higher likelihood of offending and becoming involved with the criminal justice system.
Source: Economic Evaluation of Young Carers' Interventions, Princess Royal Trust for Carers (020 7480 7788) and Crossroads Caring for Carers
Links: Report | Summary | PRTC press release
Date: 2009-Mar
An audit report said that the majority of carers who received welfare benefits were satisfied with the support they were given. The Department for Work and Pensions was delivering carers' benefits effectively, and had made improvements in processing claims in the previous few years. But at least one-fifth of claimants had difficulties in applying for carer's allowance.
Source: Supporting Carers to Care, HC 130 (Session 2008-09), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | NAO press release | Help the Aged press release | Carers UK press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report said that individual budgets could greatly improve carers' quality of life when compared with carers of people using conventional social services. They could allow carers more control and flexibility in their daily routines; and some carers said that individual budgets also improved quality of life for the person they were looking after.
Source: Caroline Glendinning et al., The Individual Budgets Pilot Projects: Impacts and Outcomes for Carers, Working Paper 1902, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608) and Personal Social Services Research Unit/University of Kent
Links: Report | Summary | DH press release | Carers UK press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A report examined the research evidence on carer support services.
Source: Elizabeth Victor, A Systematic Review of Interventions for Carers in the UK: Outcomes and explanatory evidence, Princess Royal Trust for Carers (020 7480 7788)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report examined how carers, and the services that supported them, were responding to the personalization agenda. Personalization needed to be applied to whole families and communities, as well as to individuals, thus establishing new partnerships between the person receiving care, carers, and professionals.
Source: Putting People First Without Putting Carers Second, Princess Royal Trust for Carers (020 7480 7788) and Crossroads Caring for Carers
Links: Report | PRTC press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A report provided an overview and synthesis of research and other evidence on young carers and young adult carers. It considered the number and characteristics of such carers; the factors that explained why they became carers in the first place and why they often had to stay in caring roles for many years; the nature of the tasks and responsibilities that they performed within the family; the range of negative and positive outcomes associated with caring; the needs of young carers and how they could be best supported by service-providers; and specific issues confronting rural young carers and rural service-providers.
Source: Saul Becker and Fiona Becker, Service Needs and Delivery Following the Onset of Caring Amongst Children and Young Adults: Evidenced based review, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jan