A report examined how financial pressures affected the health, wealth, and well-being of carers.
Source: The Cost of Caring: How money worries are pushing carers to breaking point, Carers UK
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the role and agency of care-giving children, based on empirical findings in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Source: Anne Wihstutz, 'Working vulnerability: agency of caring children and children s rights', Childhood, Volume 18 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Nov
A report examined the effects of problems of labour force participation, and of unmet needs for formal care, on informal care-giving in Europe. It was necessary to promote favourable conditions for working carers, and shortfalls in long-term care might partially override the success of work-related policies.
Source: Cristina Vilaplana Prieto, Informal Care, Labour Force Participation and Unmet Needs for Formal Care in the EU-27, Croatia and Turkey, Research Report 97, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A paper examined the evidence base on the impact on carers of personalization in social care. The evidence was 'limited at best'.
Source: Mary Larkin and Helen Dickinson, Personalisation: What Will the Impacts Be for Carers?, Working Paper 64, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book examined developments in the content and forms of care in European societies, focusing on gender issues.
Source: Hanne Marlene Dahl, Marja Keranen, and Anne Kovalainen (eds.), Europeanization, Care and Gender: Global complexities, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Nov
A report examined the needs of young carers who gave care and support in families affected by enduring parental mental illness and/or substance misuse. Young carers should be identified early, protected from having to carry out inappropriate caring roles, and – along with their families – listened to, with their experience being used to inform policy and practice.
Source: Signposts: See me, hear me, talk to me – talk to my family as well, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services/Association of Directors of Children's Services
Links: Report | ADASS press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A report examined the impact of long-term care on informal carers' status in the labour market in Europe. The heaviest burdens – characterized by higher informal care intensity and co-habitation with the assisted person – hampered the carer from participating in the labour market as desired.
Source: Stefania Gabriele, Paola Tanda, and Fabrizio Tediosi, The Impact of Long-Term Care on Caregivers Participation in the Labour Market, Research Report 98, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report highlighted ways in which greater support could be made available to carers, aimed at ensuring that their own health and well-being did not suffer as a result of their caring responsibilities.
Source: Sue Yeandle and Andrea Wigfield (eds.), New Approaches to Supporting Carers' Health and Well-being: Evidence from the National Carers' Strategy Demonstrator Sites programme, Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (University of Leeds)
Links: Report | Summary | Leeds University press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A report examined the determinants of informal care-giving in European countries, as well as the trade-off between formal and informal care. The type of care provided was found to be related not to country-specific characteristics, but rather to the needs of the dependent person. Policies in the European Union should therefore keep pace with health and demographic patterns and trends. Country-specific policies were recommended in those cases where the demographic and health characteristics of the older population departed significantly from the average.
Source: Sergi Jimenez-Martin, Raquel Vegas Sanchez, and Cristina Vilaplana Prieto, The Relationship Between Formal and Informal Care in Europe and Its Implications for the Number of Caregiving Hours, Research Report 100, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
An article examined the literature base of existing research in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) care provision.
Source: Paul Willis, Nicki Ward, and Julie Fish, ' Searching for LGBT carers: mapping a research agenda in social work and social care', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 41 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined the supply of informal care provided by family and friends in European countries. Differences in informal care provision were affected not only by differences in socio-demographic factors but also by differences in long-term care systems between countries.
Source: Linda Pickard, The Supply of Informal Care in Europe, Research Report 94, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes
Date: 2011-Sep
A report highlighted the social costs of a lack of support for carers. English local councils were spending £1.5 billion more than they needed to on residential care because they were failing to support carers and provide care in the home. Increasing support for carers improved the health and well-being of patients and recipients of care, and also improved the health and well-being of carers themselves. It reduced unwanted admissions, readmissions and delayed discharges in hospital settings, as well as reducing unwanted residential care admissions and length of stays.
Source: Supporting Carers: The Case for Change, Princess Royal Trust for Carers
Links: Report | PRTC press release
Date: 2011-Sep
A survey found that 70 per cent of older carers suffered a 'devastating' impact on their health due to their caring role. 65 per cent of older carers had long-term health problems or a disability themselves.
Source: Always On Call, Always Concerned: A survey of the experiences of older carers, Princess Royal Trust for Carers
Links: Report | PRTC press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper examined the role of conformity with social norms and concern with relative income in the decision to supply unpaid care for parents. Men attached more weight than women to relative income, and were more indifferent to social norms in relation to caring.
Source: Marina Della Giusta, Nigar Hashimzade, and Sarah Jewell, Why Care? Social norms, relative income and the supply of unpaid care, Department of Economics, University of Reading
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
A paper examined the links between informal care provision and labour market activity at sub-national level (focusing on Wales). Despite the wide variations in informal care provision, labour market outcomes did not differ markedly by different care categories across spatial areas within England and Wales. However, labour market outcomes for males as well as females were heavily influenced for those who provided high levels of caring.
Source: Stephen Drinkwater, Informal Caring and Labour Market Outcomes Within England and Wales, Working Paper 4, Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (Cardiff University)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
A study found that an investment of less than £5 million in services provided by five carers' centres resulted in at least £73 million in social gains in a year. This gain in value arose from carers maintaining better physical and mental health by reducing stress and depression. In addition, the person being cared for was able to continue living at home, and some carers might be able to continue working. Services targeting young carers played a crucial role in helping them to continue education, find employment, or receive training.
Source: Jim Clifford, Christopher Theobald, and Stephen Mason, Social Impact Evaluation of Five Carers' Centres Using Social Return on Investment, Princess Royal Trust for Carers
Links: Report | PRTC press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A report examined the impacts on employers and employees of managing caring at a distance (caring for someone the carer does not live with or near). Nearly half of carers (43 per cent) indicated that their work had been negatively affected by caring, and that they felt tired, stressed, and anxious.
Source: Caring at a Distance: Bridging the gap, Carers UK/Employers for Carers/Nomura
Links: Report | Carers UK press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A study found that around 173,200 children were being raised by family members other than their mother or father (equal to 1 in every 77 children). More than 90 per cent of 'kinship care' arrangements were informal agreements between parents and relatives, and carers were therefore not entitled to financial support from social services. Poverty was a recurrent feature: 44 per cent of kinship families were living in the poorest areas of the country.
Source: Shailen Nandy, Julie Selwyn, Elaine Farmer, and Paula Vaisey, Spotlight on Kinship Care: Using Census microdata to examine the extent and nature of kinship care in the UK at the turn of the twentieth century, Hadley Centre for Adoption and Foster Care Studies (University of Bristol)
Links: Report | Summary | Bristol University press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Jun
Researchers examined the caring situations and other circumstances of carers who received carer's allowance. It highlighted claimants' wide range of demanding caring roles (in most cases supporting a son, daughter, parent, or spouse with a serious illness or disability), their relatively poor health, the challenges they faced in managing their caring situation, and their difficulty in combining caring with paid work.
Source: Gary Fry, Benedict Singleton, Sue Yeandle, and Lisa Buckner, Developing a Clearer Understanding of the Carer's Allowance Claimant Group, Research Report 739, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2011-May
An article said that women's employment was found to be negatively associated with informal caregiving to elderly people across the European Union.
Source: Andreas Kotsadam, 'Does informal eldercare impede women's employment? The case of European welfare states', Feminist Economics, Volume 17 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-May
A report estimated the value of unpaid care and support provided by the family, friends, and neighbours to people who were ill, frail, or disabled. The economic value of the contribution made by carers was £119 billion per year.
Source: Lisa Buckner and Sue Yeandle, Valuing Carers 2011: Calculating the value of carers support, Carers UK
Links: Report | Carers UK press release | Leeds University press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-May
An article examined the term 'carer'. Although developed as a result of well-intentioned and socially engaged research, the term was not a valid description of the relationship between 'carers' and those for whom they cared. Furthermore, use of the term might imply a burden, and therefore devalue the individual who was cared for – thereby polarizing two individuals who would otherwise work together.
Source: Victoria Molyneaux, Sarah Butchard, Jane Simpson, and Craig Murray, 'Reconsidering the term "carer": a critique of the universal adoption of the term "carer"', Ageing and Society, Volume 31 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined unpaid care work and paid employment, and the potential for developing a specific 'right to care' within European employment law. Many workers who sought to combine unpaid care with paid employment found themselves engaged in increasingly precarious forms of work: yet legal and policy responses had, to date, been reactive and incremental, resulting in a framework that was operationally ineffective.
Source: Nicole Busby, A Right to Care? Unpaid work in European employment law, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A report examined the situation of sibling carers who were raising their younger brothers and sisters, in many cases following parental bereavement. It called for a national support system to assist sibling carers, and for an acknowledgement in the benefits system of their specific needs – including exemption from the proposed benefits cap.
Source: Cathy Ashley, Big Bruv Little Sis, Family Rights Group
Links: Report | FRG press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report said that black and minority-ethnic carers faced additional difficulties caused by language barriers, accessing culturally appropriate services, and stereotyping around caring. This put them at greater risk of ill-health, poverty, loss of employment, and social exclusion.
Source: Half a Million Voices: Improving support for BAME carers, Carers UK
Links: Report | Carers UK press release
Date: 2011-Mar
Researchers examined work undertaken by local authorities to develop systems and support that addressed the needs of families with young carers. It explored some of the positive outcomes linked to taking a family-focused approach, and highlighted good practice.
Source: James Ronicle and Sally Kendall, Improving Support for Young Carers: Family focused approaches, Research Report RR084, Department for Education
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Feb
A report brought together findings from a survey of grandparents looking after disabled children, and studies of grandparent carers. More than one-half of respondents had given up work or reduced their hours to provide care, and four-fifths said that they needed more financial help.
Source: 'I Wish I Could Just Be Grandma': Parenting again when you have a grandchild with a disability, Family Fund
Links: Report | Family Fund press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan
A survey found that unpaid carers in Scotland had twice the prevalence of long-term illness and disability as the rest of the population.
Source: Sick, Tired and Caring: The impact of unpaid caring on health and long term conditions, Carers Scotland
Links: Report | Carers Scotland press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jan
A paper examined the relationship between employees' access to flexible working arrangements and the amount of informal care that they provided to sick or elderly friends and relatives. Flexitime and the ability to reduce working hours were each associated with about 10 per cent more hours of informal care, with effects concentrated among full-time workers providing small amounts of care. Workplaces did not respond to the presence of carers by providing flexible work: but there was some underlying selection of carers into flexible workplaces.
Source: Mark Bryan, Access to Flexible Working and Informal Care, Working Paper 2011-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan