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

Carer consultation and feedback

Timeline of how the strategy was developed

Embracing our vision that carers should be equal partners in care and be involved in shaping the services that are designed to support them, the development of this strategy was undertaken through engagement and consultation with young and adult carers, their families, and the professionals who support them. Across Perth and Kinross, carers were able to provide their views through the survey and at direct events in the community. These gave us valuable opinions and insight into carers' experiences. We have based this new strategy on what carers have told us matters to them.

This was what the consultation process looked like:

• From January 2019: Ongoing consultation and dialogue
  Through strategy and programme board meetings, we have continued to seek the views and experiences of carers, including Carers Voice, professionals, and our Third Sector partners, to inform and shape this strategy and the Action Plan.
• March 2022 - May 2022: The consultation survey was created with carers
  The consultation survey was developed through several discussions held with key stakeholders, including separate interest groups with adult carers, parent carers and young carers.
• June 2022 - August 2022: The consultation
  We consulted with carers using the finalised survey. This was done through social media, letter, email, focus groups, consultation stalls and events.

Consulting with professionals

Various professionals from within the HSCP and from our Third Sector and commissioned services were interviewed for their views about the support available for carers and the challenges they face.

Consultation with carer representatives

We consulted with carer representatives and heard their views on the support that carers receive and their experience of being carer representatives with the Health and Social Care Partnership.

Risk events

In December 2022 and January 2023, we held two risk events to ensure that the risks to carers were identified. The purpose of the workshops was to ensure that the Health and Social Care Partnership, identifies actions to mitigate the risks and further inform our delivery plan going forward.

Summary of the results from the consultation - 207 respondents

Carers provide a range of support to the people they care for; most said they kept the person they care for safe followed by providing emotional support. These responses are consistent with those we received from our previous Strategy. 

The largest proportion of carers who responded provide care and support for parents, a spouse or partner followed by caring for their child. 

Carers reported the greatest impact on them to be with their health and wellbeing and their life balance. 

Carers said the support they used the most came from friends and family followed by information and advice. 

The types of support carers said they would most like to have include, firstly a discount card, secondly support to enable them to have a break from caring, help with emergency and future planning and help with welfare benefits and advice. 

Work, education and training

Whilst support for education, training and employment did not score highly overall, carers of working-age experienced the most impact on their work, education, and training. 

In addition, 32% of carers who work said they did not feel supported by their employer. 

Parent carers said they felt undervalued and were not often able to get support for themselves as their child may not meet the criteria for support. 44 carers who responded to our survey said that they were looking after their child. Most get support from family and friends followed by PKAVS. 

However, over 65% of carers generally said they are satisfied with the support they receive as carers. 

In addition, 76 young carers told us about the support they receive and the things they would like to have

29% said they got enough breaks from their caring role but 71% said they did not. 

34% of young carers believed they have been offered a Young Carers Statement. However, 44% were unsure. 

For those young carers who said they had a Young Carers Statement in place the benefits they identified included:

• I'm listened to and supported with worries and have had education support.
• I sometimes get some money to do something away from my carer role.
• I get one-to-one support from someone that truly cares.
• Better understanding from school. Increased opportunities for extra activities.

67% said they attended PKAVS Young Carers Service and 33% said they did not attend the service. 

37% of young carers felt they had enough support as a young carer, 29% were unsure and 34% said they did not. 

43% of young carers said they felt supported as a young carer by their school or college and 57% said they did not. 

Examples of the kind of breaks that the young carers identified demonstrate the impact of caring on the young carers' lives and the need for them to be supported to be children first and foremost:

• A break away from my caring duties. Relaxing, having fun.
• Going to pictures or go karting.
• A break away from being responsible for my family just being me would be great with no stress.
• Doing no chores.
• A day out at a museum or activity like horseback riding or laser tag.
• Some time away from helping with my brother and having fun. Making new friends.
• Basketball and a McDonalds.
• Something distracting and interactive.
• A day out somewhere.
• Camping would be really fun.
• Away from my sister. She's really hard work and I struggle sometimes.
• Time away doing fun things with others.
• Love being in a caravan. It's like an adventure.
• Break away.
• Museum in relation to transport and military in the UK.

What adult carers said matters most to them

These are the key themes from the feedback of carers in the consultation, and what carers told us matters most to them:

• I want support for the person I care for and to be more involved in the discussions around their care.
• I want to be supported to have a break from caring.
• I want to be updated when there are changes that affect my support or the support for the person I care for.
• I want professionals to listen to me more.
• I want the process for my support to be simpler.
• I want there to be a variety of support options in rural areas of Perth and Kinross.
• I want more specialist support for the person I care for.

We used these to develop our key strategic outcomes (set out in Section 18) to support carers of Perth and Kinross over the next three years, which will be delivered by the Action Plan (set out in Section 19).

Our Strategic Outcomes: What carers can expect

Our response to the consultation feedback by carers, is that by 2026, all unpaid carers can expect:

• clear, reliable, accessible information about local and national support
• promoted awareness about unpaid carers and their rights to improve early identification and support
• to be listened to and have their opinions valued
• to have opportunities to participate as active partners to the planning and shaping of carer services in their local areas
• the development of peer support opportunities across the area
• improved provision of flexible and personalised support, to support their emotional and physical health and wellbeing and to have a life alongside caring
• in addition, young carers will be supported to achieve their educational potential, to have similar opportunities as their peers, and to enjoy their childhood.

Young carers in particular can expect:

• We will support the growth of local support for young carers.
• We will work with young carers over the life of this strategy to make the service changes required to better meet their identified needs.
• We will support young carers and their families to improve their lives where the caring role is impacting their wellbeing.
• We will work across services to meet the needs of both the young carer and the cared- for person.
• We will ensure support is in place to help identify and support young carers as early as possible. We have invested in a Young Carer Support Worker to work with our schools to raise awareness about the needs of young carers.
• We will enhance resources to allow schools to work creatively to reduce the attainment gap. Expanding opportunities for young carers to achieve their full potential.
• We will increase a variety of respite opportunities by making funds available for young carers to make choices about their own needs and interests.

Our Commitments and Delivery Plan

Our commitments, which are based on the EPiC principles and developed with carers to support the delivery of our strategic outcomes (set out in the previous section and in our delivery plans), are:

1. Carers will be supported with clear information about consistent and flexible support to empower them to manage their caring role.
2. Everyone will have the information, opportunities, and support to be identified as a carer.
3. Carers' voices will be critical to influencing the planning, development, and improvement of supports.
4. Carers will be supported to actively participate in developing a course of supports within the local community to enable them to have a life alongside their caring role.
5. Carers will be valued, listened to, and empowered to share their experiences.
6. We will provide specialist and person-centred support to avoid disadvantage to carers of all ages.

Outcome 1: Carers can expect clear, reliable, accessible information about local and national support Delivery Plan 1 (PDF, 124 KB)

Outcome 2: Carers can expect promoted awareness about unpaid carers in the community and workplaces to improve early identification and support of carers Delivery Plan 2 (PDF, 117 KB)

Outcome 3: Carers can expect that they are listened to and have their opinions valued by professionals Delivery Plan 3 (PDF, 134 KB)

Outcome 4: Carers can expect opportunities for them to participate as active partners to the planning and shaping of carer services in their local areas including services for the people who are cared-for Delivery Plan 4 (PDF, 123 KB)

Outcome 5: Carers can expect more opportunities for carer peer support Delivery Plan 5 (PDF, 110 KB)

Outcome 6: Carers can expect improved provision of flexible and personalised support, to support emotional/physical wellbeing of carers and to enable them to have a life alongside caring Delivery Plan 6 (PDF, 144 KB)

Outcome 7: Young carers will have the best start in life and will be supported to achieve their potential, irrespective of their caring responsibilities Delivery Plan 7 (PDF, 137 KB)

 

---