Memorandum submitted by Carers Wales and the Wales Carers Alliance (LCO C2)

Introduction

Carers provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner. Carers give so much to society yet as a consequence of caring, they experience ill health, poverty and discrimination.

Carers Wales is an organisation of carers fighting to end this injustice. We will not stop until people recognise the true value of carers' contribution to society and carers get the practical, financial and emotional support they need.

Carers Wales provides the secretariat for the Wales Carers Alliance, a coalition of national voluntary sector organisations in Wales. The Alliance works together to push for the legislative, policy, resource and service framework that will properly provide support to carers in Wales. The members of the Alliance are detailed at the end of this paper.

Carers Wales and the Alliance work to improve the lives of the 350,000 carers in Wales[1].

Many of the key policy and legislative areas affecting carers in Wales are devolved matters. Carers are from all backgrounds, from all age groups and include children and young people and very elderly people. The majority of carers are of working age[2] and in employment. However one carer in five gives up work to care[3], others opt for part-time work to enable them to juggle paid work and caring. 90,000 carers in Wales look after someone for more than 50 hours a week.[4] This group, in particular, faces many challenges in terms of their own health and well-being, in their need for effective social care services, and access to education, leisure and employment.

Carers Wales and the Wales Carers Alliance support the proposal from the Welsh Assembly Government to seek an LCO in relation to carers. We believe that there are a number of areas of public policy within Wales in relation to improving support for carers that require legislative measures. An immediate example is in relation to the NHS in Wales. Our hope is that the powers contained within the LCO will enable the Welsh Assembly Government to introduce future measures that will promote the well-being of carers and support their ability to continue to care.

Comments on the specific questions outlined in the invitation for written submissions

1. Carers Wales and the Alliance believe the LCO request is in the spirit and scope of the devolution settlement.

2. We cannot offer expert opinion on this but believe the use of the LCO mechanism is in accordance of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

3. We are unable to comment.

4. There is a strong demand from carers in Wales and from the organisations that work with them for the Assembly to have new legislative powers to support the provision of care by carers and to promote the well-being of carers.

Carers Wales is part of Carers UK, the voice of carers. We are a membership organisation with an individual membership of carers and former carers. These members have voting rights. We also have non-voting associate members of carers' groups and organisations that work with or for carers. Through our membership networks we are in contact with about 130,000 carers in Wales.[5] The other member organisations in the Alliance are also in contact with thousand of carers. The concerns gathered from carers through all these networks are remarkably consistent, both across time and for carers of all ages and backgrounds.

Before the 2007 Assembly elections the Alliance undertook a consultation exercise with carers to inform the content of the Carers' Manifesto. In addition, Carers Wales, in partnership with Crossroads Wales and Learning Disability Wales, organised a series of consultation events across Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government to look at the priorities for action in a revised Carers Strategy for Wales. These consultation events included carers and other key stakeholders from local government, health and the voluntary sector. The main issues that are within the scope of the matters devolved to the National Assembly for Wales, and which arose out of both sets of consultations, were:

· Better social care services for the people that carers look after

· The need for carers to have time off from caring

· The need for carers to get the information they need, when they need it. There were strong calls for, in particular, a statutory duty to be placed on the NHS to identify, inform and support carers. Many carers and carers' organisations see this as a major gap in existing carer legislation. Many carers do not have contact with social services but do have contact with the NHS.

" Requirements on the NHS. It was felt that there needed to be a forceful section on the need for the NHS as a whole to inform and support carers, ( i.e. primary care, trusts and LHB's). Meaningful QOF and SAFF targets need to be developed to ensure action.

"...targets need to be developed specifically to measure support given and outcomes for carers. Several groups felt strongly that public bodies, and health in particular, would only become more engaged in supporting carers if they were required to." [6]

We believe that the proposed LCO will ensure that the Assembly has the power to develop effective policy for carers that, when necessary, can be backed by Welsh legislation.

Other major issues for carers are reserved matters. These include the injustices inherent in both the level of and the eligibility rules for carers allowance; the more general financial penalties suffered by carers; discrimination issues and difficulties around employment.

5. We do not envisage that the proposed transfer of functions has any inherent implications for the UK budget.

6. We cannot identify any likely impact of the proposed transfer of functions on reserved functions

7. We cannot identify any likely cross-border issues inherent within the proposed transfer of functions.

8. We cannot identify any likely necessity for the formation or abolition of Welsh institutions inherent within the proposed LCO.

Membership of the Wales Carers Alliance - 2008

Age Concern Cymru

All Wales Forum of Parents & Carers of people with learning disabilities

Alzheimers Society

Care & Repair Cymru

Carers Wales

Christian Lewis Trust

Contact a Family Wales

Crossroads Wales

HAFAL

MS Society Cymru/Wales

National Autistic Society - Cymru

Parkinson's Disease Society

Princess Royal Trust for Carers

SNAP Cymru

The Stroke Association

January 2009

[1] Census 2001 (includes young carers)

[2] Census 2001

[3] Equal Opportunities Commission survey, 2004

[4] Census 2001

[5] Based on 2007-08 figures

[6] From the Summary report to the Welsh Assembly Government on the consultation seminars on the "Re-focussing of the Carers Strategy" (2007)