What learning has the government taken from the administration of the Carer Payment scheme by local authorities?
I announced a budget of up to £29million in April 2022 to provide 57,000 unpaid carers in Wales with a £500 payment. The purpose of the payment was to recognise the pivotal role of unpaid carers, particularly during the pandemic.
Payments were made by local authorities and Carers Trust Wales, have advised that those eligible for the payment welcomed it.
Following careful consideration of how to allocate the funding available for the £500 payment scheme, we made the difficult decision that it should target unpaid carers in receipt of Carers Allowance. We consulted with organisations representing unpaid carers when finalising the eligibility for this scheme.
Of the 57,000 unpaid carers believed to be eligible for the payment, 44,000 benefitted from the payments take up rate of 77%.
We invested in an extensive communications campaign to promote uptake of the scheme. This included online news pages on multiple dates, social media messaging, print advertising and via messages on pharmacy bags. The scheme was covered by national news and promoted by local authorities and national and local carers’ organisations.
In response to feedback that not all eligible carers may have been clear about the process to apply for the payment, we reopened registration and extended the deadline for applications for a further period.
We continue to work with local authorities, health boards and carers organisations to improve communication channels to all those who identify as unpaid carers. We provide funding to Carers Wales and Carers Trust Wales to deliver on the ‘Carer Aware’ campaign to increase the understanding of the public and a wide range of professionals about the needs and rights of unpaid carers.
Carers organisations and Regional Partnership Boards are working collaboratively to deliver further large-scale support schemes for unpaid carers: specifically enhanced opportunities for short breaks and for financial support through the Carers Support Fund.
Since its launch in 2020, the Carers Support Fund has helped to alleviate stress and anxiety experienced by several thousand unpaid carers each year via financial help and access to support services. The Carers Support fund can be accessed by carers on low incomes and is not linked to receipt of Carer’s Allowance. We are investing £4.5m in this fund over three years (2022-25).
We have also invested £9m over three years (2022-25) to fund innovative short breaks for unpaid carers on low incomes who are struggling to cope with their caring responsibilities.
We are grateful to local authorities who have administered several one-off payment schemes to social care workers and unpaid carers on our behalf since the start of the pandemic. These are large additional administration and organisational tasks, undertaken at a time when local authorities have been facing significant challenge.
We will continue to seek learning from experience and ensure we take advantage of all opportunities to publicise schemes and to ensure application processes are as straightforward as possible.