A report on the “current picture of local support available for unpaid carers in England” by think tank the King’s Fund has found unpaid carers provide levels of support equivalent to four million paid care workers to family or friends, but often struggle to gain support for themselves. It says carers are a hugely diverse group – both in terms of who they are and who they care for – but policy and services do not always reflect this diversity.
The think tank interviewed commissioners and providers of support to unpaid carers and ran focus groups with unpaid carers in four areas of England, spoke to national stakeholders and reviewed existing literature and national data sets.
It says to better support unpaid carers locally, commissioners and services need to develop and maintain a good understanding of their populations, build local support offers accordingly, and embed awareness of carers in strategic-level and commissioning decisions.
Caring_in_a_complex_world_unpaid_carers.pdf (kingsfund.org.uk)