Agenda item

Report by the Interim Corporate Director of Adult and Housing.

The Oxfordshire Way is guiding the Council’s approach to strengthening support for Carers. This is our vision of supporting people to live well at home in their community, remaining fit and healthy for as long as possible. The Oxfordshire

Way aims to provide people with the ability to support themselves through personal, local and system assets to lead independent lives. It is critical that carers are supported to protect their health and wellbeing, so they can continue to care in the way that they wish to and have a life alongside caring.

The paper provides information about the carer population in Oxfordshire and explains the measures used to understand the wellbeing of our carers. It revisits the results of the survey of Adult Carers in England and presents current activity which is being conducted collaboratively with voluntary sector partners and unpaid carers in our community that aims to explore carer experiences and develop an action plan that aims to increase positive outcomes and overall satisfaction for carers who are in need of support. It summarises services provided by both Adult Social Care and Children’s services, including the service offered for families looking after the special educational needs of children and related provision. It also provides an update on the development of a new strategic plan, the Oxfordshire All Age Unpaid Carers Strategy, to support carers across the health and social care system.

The People Overview and Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    recognise the immense contribution carers make to our society, caring for family, friends and neighbours; and,

b)    acknowledge the importance of providing high quality support for carers, because whilst caring can be a rewarding and positive experience for both the carer and the cared-for person, being a carer is also associated with a higher risk of poverty, poor mental wellbeing and physical health, and can restrict social, education and employment opportunities.

Cllr Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Karen Fuller, Corporate Director of Adult and Housing, initially addressed the Committee.  They explained that this item had been included in the Work Programme following the Oxfordshire Adult Services paper in April 2022 and a commitment to report back on progress in relation to feedback from the Carers Survey.  Immediate actions taken to improve carers experiences and wellbeing included training, information and communications to ensure that they were aware of the options available to them.  In terms of quality of services and support, there was a review of all providers’ inclusion of unpaid carers and relatives in their quality improvement processes and partnership working was taking place with Carers Oxfordshire in the provision of increased breaks, access to services and support opportunities.

The Committee was advised that from April 2021 to November 2021 there had been just over 3,600 carer assessments.  In the same period during 2022 there had been over a thousand more carer assessments.  Wellbeing payments had been made to 696 carers from April 2021 to November 2021 and this had increased to 1111 for the same period in 2022.  Respite care was also being offered.

The Committee also heard from Jonny Bradish, Service Manager, Children’s Social Care, in relation to the directly provided services for young carers.  He stated that all potential young carers started with an assessment.  A young carer’s strength and needs were identified through the Early Help processes.  The Council’s Locality Community Support Service (LCSS) supported interventions to be fulfilled whilst children and young people remained in the community delivered by professionals who already had a connection with the child and their family.  They would co-ordinate a multi-agency team which sought to support families. 

Mr Bradish referred to other directly provided services including the Council’s Early Help teams offering the benefit of an allocated key worker and regular home visiting.  This was particularly appropriate when complex needs had been identified which are likely to impede the development of a child or young person.

Overall, in 2021/22 there were 743 children who were listed as being young carers and 216 received a continuing service.

Councillor Bearder concluded the presentation with positive comments received from carers regarding short break respite services and meals for carers and their families.  He emphasised that the Council was developing a new strategic plan, the Oxfordshire All- Age Unpaid Carers Strategy, to support carers across the health and social care system.  It was bringing together the work of Children’s and Adult’s departments in relation to carer support.  It was important to raise awareness of services for carers.  There was a value to providing support to carers in order that greater interventions, in the form of statutory supported services, were not required.

In addition to Cllr Bearder, Ms Fuller and Mr Bradish, responses to questions and points raised by the Committee were received from Cllr Liz Brighouse, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People's Services, Kevin Gordon, Director for Children’s Services and John Pearce, Commissioning Manager (Age well) Health, Education, Social Care and Children.

The Committee noted that the main source of data on the number of unpaid carers in Oxfordshire comes from the census and welcomed the fact that data was expected to be provided later in January about health, disability and unpaid care in England and Wales relating to the 2021 census.  It was recognised that much had changed since 2011, such as the interactions with carers and the partnership working with Carers Oxfordshire, sharing data. 

The Committee was keen to examine the role of teachers in helping to identify young carers.  Members were advised that the LCSS had fantastic connections with schools, visited them regularly and spoke regularly with named members of staff.  They shared best practice and insight regarding young carers.  The strength and needs assessment included indicators that young people might have caring responsibilities.  It was agreed that the Committee would be provided with information on how quickly a school was informed of a young carer once this was identified.  Officers also offered to provide more details on any training programmes / awareness schemes relating to young carers.  The Committee considered that best practice should be shared with all schools, highlighting the indicators of a young person being a carer.

It was acknowledged that the concept of ‘hard to reach’ carers should be dispensed with going forward.  It was also appreciated that many carers did not identify themselves as such.  Approaches to reach carers included via the website and also making the pamphlet more widely available, through letterboxes and in libraries or GP surgeries.  Work was taking place to encourage communities and groups who were less prominent in the service provision.  One example of seeking to achieve this was working with Oxford Mosque.  It was important that Members were able to pass on the message about the services being provided and would be able to promote the All Age Unpaid Carer listening events, combining adults and children carer services, when these commenced.  Members were also encouraged to visit the services.

The Committee noted that the paper contained more detail on adult carers than young carers, taking into account that it was a follow up to the Oxfordshire Adult Services paper in April 2022.  However, much had changed in the last few months, particularly the joint commissioning of children’s and adults’ services relating to All Age Unpaid Carers and this was why there was reference in the paper to young carers.  There was the option to look in more detail at the strategy relating to young carers at a future People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Officers were asked about one of the ambitions that had been expressed when the contract with Carers Oxfordshire had begun was to create a one stop shop for advice, information and support. Officers advised that in terms of seeking to realise this aim in addition to the website being up and running and the pamphlet having been created, there was a wider reach in terms of information and guidance, including with health colleagues.    Age UK were able to bring their experience and expertise and refer people to their initiatives such as the ‘Chatty Bus’ service.  The Carers Oxfordshire contract included sharing and integration of Council records.

It was noted that the new Carers Line had received over 4,600 calls since 1 April 2022.  A lot of these were around support and what was available in the local communities.  The Committee would be provided with further information on the breakdown of the types of calls received.  The Committee was also advised that the overheads for the Carers Oxfordshire contract was 16.7%.  It covered accommodation, IT costs, HR costs, financial management and legal and professional charges.  Some of the costs were shared with Age UK Oxfordshire.  It was confirmed that there was allocation in the Council 2023/24 budget for the scheme to continue.  

The Committee considered that there had been progress following the receipt of feedback from the Carers Survey and that the team had developed good working partnerships, including with Age UK.  Members looked forward to data from the 2021 census being made available and incorporated into future scrutiny reports.

The following actions were AGREED:

1)    Officers to provide information on how quickly a school was informed of a young carer once this was identified.

2)    Officers to provide more details on any training programmes / awareness schemes relating to young carers

3)    The Committee would be provided with further information on the breakdown of the types of calls received by the new Carers Line.