Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Adult Services and Housing

The Board considered a report and presentation of the Director of Adults and Housing regarding the Future Recommissioning of Carers Support Services and update on progress against the Carers Action Plan 2024/26.

In the 2021 Census, 27,391 people in Coventry identified themselves as having caring responsibilities.  This was likely to be an underrepresentation of the caring population, as many people did not recognise caring roles.  Of those 27,391, 8,391 carers reported to be providing over 50 hours of care, which indicated an intense caring role (30.6%).

Adult Social Care in conjunction with Coventry & Warwickshire ICB, commissioned a range of support services for people with caring responsibilities across the city from Carers Trust Heart of England including:

• Carers Wellbeing Services – Information & Advice, Training, Peer Support, Activities, Wellbeing support
• Carers Assessments – delegated responsibility from the council.
• Carers Regulated Support – Carers Emergency Response Service and Carers Break Scheme.
• Carers Projects – Primary Support for Carers, Employment Support, Direct Payments and Grief and Loss.

The services were arranged in a mix of grant-based arrangements and a contract, due to expire on 31 March 2025.  The current annual value of commissioned support was approximately £775k which included an annual contribution of £134k from CWICB.

Additional projects costing 96k per year (included in the above costs) commenced in 2020 during the pandemic to respond to emerging needs and identified pressures for carers. 

For the future recommissioning of carer services, there would be an overall reduction in budget of £41,870 per year due to the development of alternative information and advice support corporately and how future carer support would be reshaped.

The City Council and the ICB planned to recommission carer support services within Coventry based on carer feedback.  The recommissioning was aligned to priorities in the Carers Action Plan 2024-26 which outlined 3 key priorities based on carers feedback as follows:

• Empower carers with flexible respite options, ensuring they can take breaks.
• Deliver the right support, at the right time, and in the right place.
• Maximise the reach of carers assessments to benefit more carers.

The aim of the Carers Action Plan was to improve the experience of carers with a focus on improving the life a carer lives alongside caring.  The success of the plan would be reviewed by engaging with carers and reviewing data eg. the local authorities bi-annual survey.

The Cabinet Member for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Councillor K Caan, commended the multi-dimensional approach referring to the positive impact the streams would have.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Councillor L Bigham, paid tribute to all carers, advising that many were elderly and very young and that the strategy would help to make their work easier and ensure their own health and wellbeing and ambitions were catered for.

Members of the Scrutiny Board, having considered the content of the report and presentation, asked questions and received information from officers on the following matters:

• The reduction in budget amounted to 7% of the councils contribution in terms of funding for carers.
• The service was not provided in-house, but by the Carers Trust in Coventry.
• The website had received an update based on carers feedback.
• The bi-annual survey of carers provided a good indication of progress and performance measures for carers including their quality of life and any concerns which were raised.
• Officers connected with carers on a regular basis.  This would continue along with different ways to assess the impact of interventions and understand the impact of carers assessments.
• The tender process would be overseen by the Steering Group to ensure deadlines were met.

The Board requested:

·  Carers be provided with links with Go CV and CV Life.

·  Information on how the £134,000 ICB contribution was determined.

·  Information to be circulated to all Members regarding available information and how to obtain it.

·  That the website refresh be shared with Members.

·  Information on ‘A Day in the Life of’ – real life examples – to be provided in future reports.

RESOLVED that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) notes the Recommissioning of Carers Support Services and progress on the Carers Action Plan 2024-26.