Carers
Caring can take innumerable forms, from parent to child, child to parent, partner to partner, relative to relative to name but a few. But, whichever form it takes, it is undoubtedly a tough job. And, a vital one: it is estimated that the unpaid contribution of carers to the UK economy equates in value to the total cost of running 
the NHS - £57 billion.
Statistics
There are six million carers in the UK, according to the 2001 Census. This was the first year that the census included a question on carers. It found that 1.25 million carers provide over 50 hours of care per week. About 316,000 carers describe themselves as ‘permanently sick or disabled’, and of these 124,900 care for 50 hours or more every week. More than half of those providing 50 hours care per week are over 55 years old.
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Other findings include:
• 10 per cent of all people and 12 per cent of adults are carers.
• 3 million carers are in work, and 200,000 work full-time even though they also provide over 50 hours of care weekly.
• Women are more likely to be carers than men – there are over 3 million female carers in the UK, compared to over 2 million male carers.
• Young people from Asian communities are twice as likely to be carers as white European children.
• Over half of all carers do some form of paid work additionally. Male carers are more likely to be employed.
• There are almost 175,000 young carers. Just over 13,000 care for 50 hours or more every week.
• More than one in five people in their 50s provide some unpaid care.
In March 2004, a survey commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission revealed that nearly one in five carers had had to leave a job or had been unable to take up employment because of their caring responsibilities.
Legislation
In April 1996 the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 came into force, giving carers a right to an assessment of their needs as long as the person they cared for had also been assessed. If, however, that person refused an assessment, the carer could not have their needs assessed either.
Five years later, the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 closed this loophole by entitling all carers to an assessment in their own right, irrespective of whether the person they cared for had refused an assessment or services. This was a mandatory duty placed on local authorities. The act gave local authorities the power to provide direct payments to carers – for services for them; to parent carers for services to disabled children; and to 16 and 17-year-old disabled people for their own services. The act also gave local authorities another power, of offering vouchers to carers for short-term breaks.
Despite these improvements, last year a survey by charity Carers UK revealed that only a third of carers are being assessed. Almost half of carers who had not been assessed hadn’t been told they had the right to an assessment, and a third were unaware of the reason for requesting an assessment.
Of those who had been assessed, less than half had resulted in accessing services even though two thirds thought they needed them.
Tied up with the Carers and Disabled Children Act was the government’s first national strategy for carers, ‘Caring about Carers’. Introduced the same year, it brought with it a specific carers grant in England, targeted mainly at additional breaks for carers, and also to provide carers’ services to support them in their caring role. This year’s grant 2004-5 for English local authorities is £125 million. This grant was originally ringfenced but this is the first year that this restriction has been lifted. Carers and charities are worried that by ending ringfencing the grant, local authorities may spend less on carers’ breaks and services.
But despite the government’s pledge to help carers, it took backbench MP Hywel Francis to put forward proposals for new legislation in the form of the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Bill. In April 2004, the government announced its support for the bill which is designed to give carers new rights to opportunities for work, education and life-long learning.
Benefits
The main state benefit is carer’s allowance, currently at £44.35 per week, although there are seven rules of eligibility criteria to meet before carers can receive it.
Before April 2003, carer’s allowance was called invalid care allowance.
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