Who cares for the Carer?

Delivering training courses on topical social issues and indeed my volunteer advocacy work brings more personal awareness and experience of matters often hidden from view. Care Act and Equality Law training/advocacy is a good case in point.

One such spotlight focuses on the simple question "Who cares for the carer?"

1 in 5 of the population belong to a UK  invisible army of carers. They  care, unpaid, for sick or disabled loved ones. Without them, many communities would fall apart. They are a huge invisible army . Problems are growing with an ageing population and as public money becomes short. 

There is of course  a distinction between the 1.5 million paid care workers who are the professional backbone of adult social care (that is, care outside the NHS) and the estimated army of  10 million unpaid carers. It has  been estimated  the invisible army is the equivalent of 4 million paid care workers. Paid care workers have a poor deal too. They are usually very badly paid, have little career development and often have stressful working conditions . No wonder, 10% of vacancies are unfilled and why recruitment depends very heavily on immigration from Asia and Africa. 

Unpaid carers are much more numerous and less visible.  The media is always reporting horror stories and heroics amongst carers: bereaved or abandoned children caring for other children to stay out of care homes; parents struggling to manage children with complex needs requiring 24-hour attention; elderly couples with waning powers and strength trying to help each other to manage a home and combat loneliness;  or the daughter (usually) of a frail or disabled parent trying to manage children, part-time job and mum. Some of the "breaking news" in my courses features such cases. 

And when trying to help people claim Universal Credit (UC) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP), I often encounter further worry about implications for personal income tax bills which in recent months Department of Work & Pension officials have been trying to claw from unpaid carers! 

Local authorities do provide some domiciliary support subject to means tests and social worker assessment. But this can be a  "hit and miss" provision. Almost 80% of carers receive no support. 

And it's not just a question of money. Carers’ needs are not just financial or physical. Caring imposes heavy emotional demands. The most useful and tangible support is often respite: time out for exercise, shopping, meeting people. But day respite care, let alone holidays, is also "hit and miss" or patchy at best.

So we have a double whammy!

1. Professional caring is chronically under-resourced.

2. An invisible army of unpaid carers who are often desperate for support and respite in the work they do for their loved ones, and for the rest of us. 

They should all surely be a priority. 

In a recent blog I drew attention to a United Nations Committee  "Call for Evidence" on how well the UK Government are making sure that people have their everyday rights in decent jobs, health care, food quality, education and other essentials for life. 

Specifically, "JUST FAIR", a UK civil rights organisation, are preparing a report for the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) as part of their upcoming review of the UK Government.

Facts about the VISIBLE and INVISIBLE army of carers should be in our submissions. I will be sending in my data/observations. Will you?

Illustration below:-

"The Invisible Carer" is a piece of visual art commissioned by the University of Exeter Arts and Culture Creative Fellowship. A public art piece by Leo Jamelli that highlights the important but often unseen role of family carers. 

It's a  hand drawn animation of a carer struggling to hold her husband who she cares for, capturing the strength and vulnerability of family carers, and aimed at  what Leo Jamelli says will " hopefully prompt powerful conversations about care in Exeter". All  part of the wider UK debate in the blog above. You will see it depicts a carer trying to support the weight of her husband as he slowly begins to slip from her hands. This acts as a metaphor for the mental and strain experienced by invisible carers and vulnerabilities. As the husband begins to slip from her hold, she finds the strength to lift him and support him once more. This is to identify with the strength invisible carers must find during these very difficult periods, as well as representing the role reversal.