Perth and Kinross Joint Adult and Young Carers Strategy 2023-2026

Introduction

We are delighted to present our refreshed Joint Adult and Young Carers Strategy 2023-2026 (PDF, 1 MB) underlining our continued commitments to unpaid carers of all ages. This strategy will continue to progress and embed the actions from the Joint Carers Strategy 2019-2022, while reflecting on significant events of the previous 3 years, the impact of COVID-19 and the cost- of-living crisis on unpaid carers.

Our vision is to fully support all unpaid carers in Perth and Kinross to have a life alongside caring, ensuring that resources are used effectively to meet the gaps identified in support provision. Our vision for young carers is that they are supported to be children first and foremost, having similar opportunities as their peers.

Like our previous strategy, this strategy is shaped by carers, their families, service users, and staff from the Health and Social Care Partnership (Perth and Kinross Council, NHS Tayside, and Third and Independent Sector organisations). Views of young and adult carers and their representatives have been sought via consultation into their needs, challenges, hopes and concerns to ensure that this strategy is relevant and useful. We also listened to what carers told us about continued or new gaps in service provision, ideas for improvements and what works well for them. In Chapter 4 of this strategy, we outline the feedback we received and set out both our commitments and the outcomes we will deliver in response to that feedback.

The strategy will be reviewed annually, in addition to ongoing monitoring, to ensure that it remains robust and meaningful, and will be in place until 2026.

The Joint Carers' Strategy focusses primarily on services specifically for carers. However, it should be noted that services for the person being cared-for can and often does have a significant impact on the carer's quality of life. Information on these services and the work we intend to do to improve support, can be found in Perth and Kinross's Health and Social Care Partnership's Strategic Commissioning Plan and supporting Strategies.

Policy Statement

We believe that unpaid carers of all ages play a vital role in the lives of the people they care for and in the wider community. We are committed to supporting carers to ensure they can continue to provide that care for as long as they wish. Our aim is to ensure that carers are recognised and valued as equal partners in care to plan the personalised support they need in their caring role; and to support carers to live in good health and wellbeing, allowing for a life of their own alongside caring, to the best of our ability.

The Legislative Framework

The strategy is underpinned by the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, and Social Care (Self-Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013.

Carers (Scotland) Act 2016

This legislation came into effect from 1 April 2018 and enhances the rights of carers in Scotland. The purpose of the Carers Act is to ensure that unpaid carers, who are able and willing to continue caring, are better and more consistently supported to have a life alongside caring. For young carers, the intention is to ensure that they are children first and foremost, and that any caring role they have is secondary.

This legislation gives carers a right to be offered, or to request, an Adult Carer Support Plan or Young Carer Statement, which supports the carer to identify the advice and support that is needed to reduce the impact of caring on their health and wellbeing and other aspects of their lives. Following the introduction of the Terminal Illness Regulations in July 2021, carers supporting someone with a terminal illness must be offered Adult Carer Support Plans which have to be completed within specific timelines.

The Carers Act also puts a duty on the Health and Social Care Partnership to set local eligibility criteria for supporting carers, to develop the adult carer support plan and young carer statement, to develop a Short Breaks Services Statement, to involve carers in carers' services and in hospital discharge planning, and to maintain advice and information services.

We have worked, and will continue to work, collaboratively with carers, their families and groups who represent carers to implement the changes required under this new law locally across Perth and Kinross.

Social Care (Self-Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013

Under this legislation, we will provide information and advice about Self-Directed Support (SDS) options. We have a duty to offer people who are eligible for social care, a range of choices over how they receive their social care and support. SDS allows people, their carers, and their families to make informed choices on what their support looks like and how it is delivered, making it possible to meet agreed personal outcomes.

SDS includes a range of options to ensure everyone can exercise choice and control. Carers have four options in relation to how their budget is controlled, which are:

• choosing to receive a Direct Payment (also called a cash payment)
• choosing to have the funding allocated to a service provider of their choice
• choosing to have Perth and Kinross Council to arrange a service for the carer
• choosing to have a mix of the above options for different types of support

Carers can use SDS in different ways; for instance, to support the carer to live in their own home. Outside of the home, it could support the carer to go to college/work or enjoy leisure pursuits. It could help the carer arrange for a personal assistant (PA) or be used to help to provide a short break or equipment for the carer.

Objectives and Strategic Framework

This Strategy reflects and supports the five commitments of the Strategic Commissioning Plan for the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP):

• Working together with our communities
• Prevention and early intervention
• Person-centred health, care, and support
• Reducing inequalities and unequal health outcomes and promoting healthy living
• Making best use of available facilities, people, and other resources

To meet these goals, we want to provide more opportunities for people to achieve their potential at all life stages, using these themes which underpin the work of the Health and Social Care Partnership.

We will listen to and work with carers along with their families and friends in accordance with the Health and Social Care Standards (my support, my life):

1. I experience high-quality care and support that is right for me
2. I am fully involved in all decisions about my care and support
3. I have confidence in the people who support and care for me
4. I have confidence in the organisation providing my care and support
5. I experience a high-quality environment if the organisation provides the premises

Using these standards, we will prioritise and respect people and their choices when they seek support.

The strategy embraces the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes, in particular Health and Wellbeing Outcome 6: People who provide unpaid care are supported to look after their own health and wellbeing, including reducing any negative impact of their caring role on their own health and wellbeing.

In addition, the strategy embeds the Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) core principles:

• Carers are identified
• Carers are supported and empowered to manage their caring role
• Carers are enabled to have a life outside of caring
• Carers are free from disadvantage and discrimination related to their caring role
• Carers are fully engaged in the planning of services
• Carers are recognised and valued as equal partners in care

The strategy also reflects the Perth and Kinross vision that children and young people will have the best start in life and will be supported to achieve their potential. This is in line with our commitment: Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and the ethos of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, which places emphasis on young carers being children first, carers second, ensuring that they are supported to achieve the best possible outcomes in life.

The strategy also takes account of the direction and considerations made by the National Carer Strategy and the Care Inspectorate Inquiry into Adult Carers' Experiences of Social Work and Social Care Services, both published in December 2022. We have used these to inform the Action/Delivery Plan.

The Scottish Government published the National Carers Strategy in December 2022 which embeds 89 actions within 5 themes:

1. Living with COVID-19
2. Valuing, recognising, and supporting carers
3. Health and social care support
4. Social and financial inclusion
5. Young carers

The Care Inspectorate Inquiry into adult carers' experiences of social work and social care services, highlighting 8 considerations to support continuous improvement in the experience of carers. These are:

1. Develop and improve the accessibility and availability of short breaks available to support carers to continue to care.
2. Promote awareness of the rights that carers, including 'hidden carers', have to an adult care support plan and the benefits of having one in place.
3. Improve carers' experiences of systems and processes including initial access, resource allocation and reviews.
4. Ensure there is refocus on prevention and early intervention, self-directed support, and outcomes-focused practice for carers.
5. Further support social work and social care staff to be more knowledgeable about the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.
6. Further develop with carers engagement and consultation approaches including evaluation of these approaches and how best to feedback carers' views.
7. Ensure that local carer strategies, short-break services statements and eligibility criteria are up to date and are co-produced with carers and carers' organisations.
8. Ensure there is meaningful and representative inclusion of carers in planning and governance groups that impacts positively on service improvement.

Equalities

In accordance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (General Equality Duty), Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership, and Perth and Kinross Council Education and Children's Services have a duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation and to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic. Protected characteristics, under equalities legislation, include age, race, sex, disability, colour, ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or gender re- assignment. Under the Fairer Scotland Duty, we must actively consider how we can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socioeconomic disadvantage when making strategic decisions. Although not named as having a protected characteristic, carers are covered under Equalities legislation by their association to the person who they care for who may have one or more protected characteristic.

Monitoring, reviewing, and reporting on the Strategy

The achievement towards meeting the outcomes on this Strategy will be monitored through the Carers Strategy Steering Group and the Carers Strategy Group. For adult carers, reporting is required to the Strategic Commissioning Board, HSCP Executive Management Team and the Integration Joint Board and Audit and Performance Committee and for young carers through Learning and Families Committee.