IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CARERS(SCOTLAND) ACT · Implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act: The...

Coalition of Carers in Scotland December 2018

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CARERS(SCOTLAND) ACT

The Experiences of Carers Centres in Scotland

Implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act: The Experiences of Carers Centres in Scotland

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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION 2

2. WHAT ARE CARERS CENTRES COMMISSIONED TO DO? 4

3. WAIVING OF CHARGES FOR REPLACEMENT CARE 6

4. CARER INVOLVEMENT 8

5. PARTNERSHIP WORKING 12

6. FUNDING FOR CARERS CENTRES 14

7. CONCLUSION 18


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1. Introduction

§ The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016

came into effect from 1 April 2018.

The Act extends and enhances the

rights of carers in Scotland to help

improve their health and wellbeing,

so that they can continue to care, if

they so wish, and have a life

alongside their caring role.

§ Carers centres in Scotland provide a

range of information, advice and

support to unpaid carers and are

uniquely placed to help local

authorities and health and social

care partnerships to deliver on the

duties set out in the Act.

§ In October 2017, the Coalition of Carers in Scotland (COCIS), conducted a scoping

study with carers centres in Scotland to get an understanding of how well prepared

they felt with regards to the implementation of the Carers Act. The scoping study

highlighted that there was a mixed picture regarding carer involvement and

partnership working across the different local authorities, and there were some

concerns in relation to the availability of resources and funding for implementing the

Carers Act locally.

§ In September 2018, COCIS followed up their initial scoping study with an online

survey targeted at carers centres. The aim of the survey was to understand how the

implementation of the Carers Act was progressing so far and whether the issues


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raised by the carers centres during the pre-implementation stage of the Carers Act

had now been addressed.

§ A link to the survey was

emailed out to 39 carers

centres in Scotland. 31 of

the carers centres from

across the different

regions in Scotland

responded to the survey.

§ This paper provides a summary of the key findings from the survey, and focusses

particularly on the carers centres’ experiences of partnership working; their level of

involvement in developing the local carer strategies and policies; and the impact that

the Carers (Scotland) Act has had on their funding and resources to support local

carers.


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2. What are Carers Centres commissioned to do?

§ The majority of the local carers centres who responded to the survey (81%) told us

that they had been commissioned by their local authority / health and social care

partnership to deliver Information and Advice to carers.

§ Around two-thirds of the Carers Centres who responded to the survey (66%), told us

that they were undertaking Adult Carer Support Plans (ACSPs). However, some of

these carers centres had still not received any additional funding or a new service

level agreement from their local authority to carry out the ACSPs.

FIGURE 1: WHAT HAVE CARERS CENTRES BEEN COMMISSIONED TO DO?

§ Some of the carers centres also raised concerns that resources are perhaps not being

used efficiently if in some instances carers centre and local authority are both

undertaking separate assessments of a carers needs.

Information andAdvice

Adult CarerSupport Plan

Young CarerStatement

81%66%

27%


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§ Not all of the carers centres in Scotland provide a Young Carers service; in some local

authorities this service is provided by other third sector organisations. This may

explain why only around one-quarter of the carers centres who responded to the

survey (27%) had been commissioned to carry out the Young Carer Statements.


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3. Waiving of Charges for replacement care

§ The Carers (Scotland) Act states that charges for replacement care must be waived

for support which meets an individual carer’s identified needs, as set out in their

ACSP or YCS. Such support might include, but is not limited, to advocacy; emotional

support and counselling; training for carers; translation and interpretation services;

cost of transport to meet the carer’s identified needs; breaks from caring that enable

the carer to meet their personal outcomes.

§ The scoping study in 2017 highlighted that carers centres had some concerns that

the issue of waiving of charges for carers had not yet been addressed by their local

authority. At the time of the current survey (September – October 2018), local

authorities and health and social care partnerships were still awaiting further

guidance from the Scottish Government on the waiving of charges for carers.

FIGURE 2: IS THERE A LOCAL CHARGING POLICY TO ADDRESS WAIVING OF CHARGES FOR CARER?

§ Just under one-quarter ( 23%) of the carers centres who responded to the survey

stated that a local charging policy had been developed by their local authority.

Yes23%

No35%

Unsure42%


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§ Around one-third ( 35%) of the carers centres told us that there was no local

charging policy in place yet to address the waiving of charges for carer support.

§ The majority of the carers centres (42%) were unaware of whether a local charging

policy had been developed or not.

§ The lack of clarity around which of the charges for support to carer were to be

waived still appears to be causing much confusion for many of the carers centres.


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4. Carer Involvement

§ Carer involvement is a key principle of the Carers (Scotland) Act. It is intended to

empower carers with more useful information about the support that may be

available to them and to ensure that they can share their caring experiences and

knowledge with those responsible for providing support or services.

§ The legislation states that carers and carer representatives should be in involved in

the preparation and reviewing of:

o the local eligibility criteria

o the local carers strategy

o the short breaks services statement

§ Local authorities, health boards, and health and social care partnerships, must also

‘take such steps as they consider appropriate’ to involve carers and carer

representatives in the planning and evaluation of services that support carers.

§ In our survey we asked carers centres if they felt that carers and carer organisations

had been included in the design and development of the local carers strategies and

policies.

§ The majority of the local carers centres agreed or strongly agreed that their

organisation and carers themselves had been in involved in the development of the

local adult carer support plan and the local eligibility criteria.


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FIGURE 3: AGREE/STRONGLY AGREE THAT CARERS AND CARERS CENTRES HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL CARER POLICIES AND SERVICES.

§ Many local authorities have not yet started consultations on their new local carers

strategies. Consultation on the Short Breaks Services Statement (which was due to

be published on 31st December 2018) was still in progress for a number of local

authorities at the time of this survey. This may explain why fewer carer centres and

carers have been involved in these two processes.

§ It is also worth noting that not all of the carers centres in our survey have been

commissioned to carry out Young Carer Statements and therefore may not have

contributed to the consultation of these. However, in instances where young carers

had been consulted with, it would appear that the views of the young people were

not always taken into consideration.

84%

84%

55%

63%

68%

32%

73%

77%

50%

43%

50%

20%

The Local Eligibility Criteria

The Adult Carer Support Plans (ACSPs)

The Young Carer Statements (YCSs)

The Short Breaks Statement

The Local Carer Strategy

Commissioning/ procurement of newor additional services for carers.

Local Carers Carers Centres


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§ Many of the carers centres also raised concerns that the involvement of carers and

carers organisations in the consultation process for the local eligibility criteria and

the local carer strategies have not always been inclusive, and at times felt tokenistic

and very much like a tick box exercise.

§ The responses from the local carers centres suggest that there has been very little

carer involvement so far in the planning or commissioning of local carer services.

Only 32% of the carers centres in our survey reported that they had been involved in

the commissioning of new carer services, and only 20% of the respondents stated

that carers themselves had been involved in any commissioning of new carer

services.

§ There appears to be some real concerns that commissioning of any new carer

support or services has just not happened yet in many areas, and therefore the

benefits of having new legislation and rights for carers has not yet been fully

realised.


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5. Partnership Working

§ Good partnership working between local authorities, health and social care

partnerships and carer organisations is vital to the successful implementation of the

Carers (Scotland) Act.

§ Around three-quarters of the carers centres who responded to the survey agreed or

strongly agreed that they were involved in partnership working at strategic level

(including carer representation on the IJB). 87% agreed or strongly agreed that they

were involved in partnership working at operational level.

§ FIGURE 4: AGREE/STRONGLY AGREE THAT CARERS CENTRES HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN

PARTNERSHIP WORKING

§ There were some good examples of partnership working highlighted between the

carer organisations, local authority and Health and Social Care Partnerships

73%87%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Strategic level Operational level


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§ However, a number of the carers centres highlighted that they did not always feel

like an equal partner in the partnerships that existed between the carers centres and

the local authorities / health and social care partnerships. In many instances, it

would appear that it was often the staff at the carers centres who were driving the

partnerships around the implementation of the Carers Act in their local area.


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6. Funding for Carers Centres

§ Our scoping study with carers centres in 2017 highlighted that 95% of the carers

centres were either moderately or seriously concerned about their funding and the

lack of clarity in relation to funding levels after March 2018.

§ In our current survey, we asked the carers centres what their funding situation was

this financial year, following the introduction of the Carers(Scotland) Act.

§ In this financial year ( 2018-19), only 37% of the carers centres have seen an increase

in their funding (compared to last financial year).

FIGURE 5: FUNDING FOR CARERS CENTRES IN 2018-19 (COMPARED TO 2017-18)

§ Many of the carers centres who experienced a funding increase this year told us that

this increase has been relatively small, and has come after several years of funding

cuts.

remained the same33%

increased37%

decreased10%

not confirmed13%

Other 7%


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• It also worth noting that for some of the local carers centres, the extra funding that they

received this year was not from the £66M that was allocated by the Scottish

Government for the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act. The increase in

funding for carers centres in 2018-19 came from a range of different sources, including :

the Carers Act Transformation Fund (this was a fund intended to support carers centres

with the cost of new technology for the implementation of the carers act); Scottish

Government pre-implementation funding; and the transformation funding from health

and social care partnerships.

• 13% of the local carers centres who responded to our survey had still not received

confirmation of their funding for 2018-19. The fact that that this survey took place in

September-October 2018, this is a particularly worrying finding. Uncertainty around

funding is making it particularly difficult for many local carers centres to plan their

services for carers and to sustain their current staffing levels.

• Around one third of the carers centres reported that their funding had remained the

same for 2018-19, but with the increases in salaries and business costs, this was

effectively a funding cut for many of them. Local carers centres raised concerns about

whether they would be able to sustain their services for carers in the future:


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§ !0% of the local carers centres in our survey reported that there had been a

reduction in their funding this year. The reductions ranged from 2.5% through to

16% (the 16% decrease equated to £85,000 of funding for one particular carers

centre).

FIGURE 6: IMPACT OF 2018-19 FUNDING ON CARERS CENTRES.

• For many carers centres, the impact of a reduction or static level of funding this year

has meant that they are having to consider how they can best restructure in order to

meet the needs of existing and new carers to their service.

19%

7%

26%

22%

11%

33%

reduced our service provision.

reductions to staffing.

expand our service provision.

increase our staffing.

funding has not yet been confirmed.

Other


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§ Overall, the biggest impact of the funding on local carers centre appears to be that they

are now expected to deliver more services to an increasing number of carers but for the

same or less amount of funding.


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7. Conclusion

• The Coalition of Carers in Scotland (COCIS) undertook a survey with local carers

centres in September – October 2018, to get a better understanding of how the

implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act was progressing across the different

local authority areas.

• Local carers centres and carers themselves appear to have been involved in the

consultations around the local eligibility criteria, local carer strategies and short

breaks services statements. However, engagement and involvement across some of

the local authorities has not always felt inclusive and at times it was perceived by the

carers centres as being very tokenistic.

§ The majority of the carers centres reported that they had been involved in

partnership working with their local authority and health and social care partnership

at strategic and operational levels. However, a number of the carers centres

highlighted that they are not always treated as equal partners by the local

authorities and HSCPs.

§ Only 37% of the carers centres received additional funding this financial year to

implement the Carers (Scotland) Act. The remaining carers centres have seen a

reduction or no change in their funding situation this year. This has resulted in a

number of carers centres being expected to deliver more services to an increasing

number of carers, but for the same or less amount of funding .

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