Social care practice with carers: What social care support is provided to family carers? What support do family carers want?

Most social care support for carers is delivered through the voluntary sector, although most councils still directly undertake carer assessments. Changes in commissioning and contracting arrangements have created additional opportunities for the voluntary sector but also some uncertainties. Carers have mixed views on the extent to which they feel their social care needs are met. However, they are positive about the help provided by carers’ workers with a specific remit to provide them with support. Activities by carers’ workers are varied and include outreach work, information provision, counselling, advocacy and ongoing support. Different ways of improving carers’ access to information, such as websites, carers’ cafes and outreach workers, have been developed, although these rarely seem to be evaluated for their effectiveness. Identifying carers in need of additional support seems mainly to take place when the person for whom they care is assessed. This disadvantages those caring for someone who is not eligible for, or who refuses, social care support from their local authority. The Care Act 2014 has implications for the way that social care support to carers is delivered. Currently, carers caring for someone not meeting the eligibility criteria for social care support may have substantial or critical unmet needs of their own. Carers’ organisations argue that an important part of their role is to encourage carers to complete selfassessments but they are concerned that not enough support is then available to those carers who have been assessed. Some local councils are working with local clinical commissioning groups on integrating support for carers, though these developments have yet to become established everywhere. Personalisation has brought mixed benefits; with some positive examples of carers having more control over their support but some concerns that the preferences of carers who simply want a regular and reliable break are not being properly met