Agenda item

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services considered a report of the Director of Adults and Housing which covered 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. We know this is likely to be an underrepresentation of our caring population, as many people do not recognise caring roles. Of those 27,391 – 8,391 carers reported to be providing over 50 hours of care, indicating an intense caring role (30.6%).

Supporting carers is of major importance to health and social care for a number of reasons including meeting duties arising from legislation, the important preventative aspects of maintaining support and because it is the right thing to do. We are all likely to take on caring responsibilities during our lifetime.

Adult Social Care in conjunction with Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (CWICB) currently commission a range of support services for people with caring responsibilities across the city from Carers Trust Heart of England. These include:

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

The services are currently arranged in a mix of grant-based arrangements and a contract. All contracts and grants are due to expire on 31st March 2025. The current annual value of commissioned support is circa £775k which includes an annual contribution of £134k from CWICB.

A number of additional projects at a cost of £96k per year (included in above costs) commenced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, to respond to emerging needs and identified pressures for carers. This included Grief and Loss & Employment Support.

For the future recommissioning of carer services there will be an overall reduction in budget of £41,870 per year due to the development of alternative information and advice support corporately and how we want to reshape our future carer support. The procurement activity will be structured in such a way (with a maximum price or similar mechanism) to facilitate this reduction in budget required, with the intricacies of such arrangement to be discussed and finalised with procurement and legal services colleagues in due course.

Coventry City Council together with the CWICB plan to recommission carer support services within Coventry based on carer feedback. The recommissioning is also aligned to our priorities in the Carers Action Plan 2024-26. (See appendix one). The plan outlines three key priorities based on carers feedback:

• 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 is to improve the experience of carers with a particular focus on improving the life a carer lives alongside caring. We plan to review the success of the plan by engaging with carers and reviewing data such as the local authority’s bi-annual survey.

Progress against the Carers Action Plan so far is captured in Appendix 1 and includes:

• Advancing deployment of the Accelerated Reform Funds including onboarding of a specialist self-assessment and information and advice digital tool called Bridgit and the implementation of a project called My Time with the aim of supporting carers to take meaningful breaks.
• Developing Carers Assessments and pathways including delivery of a number of training sessions and rolling induction sessions to further support carers in their caring role.
• Updating and developing carer related information such as leaflets and websites to ensure carers are aware of the most up to date information to support them in their caring role.
• Developing a working group with University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire to support carers whilst in hospital and upon discharge with the aim of improving carers experience and that they are aware of support options in the community.
• Development of Young Carer pathways including establishing a Young Carers Early Help Link
• Recommissioning of carer support services aligned to our three key priorities in the carers action plan.

The Cabinet Member noted the move away from grant funded arrangements and that t existing contracts would be extended to September, 2024.

The Cabinet Member also noted that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board had considered the report at their meeting on 13 November, 2024 and had endorsed the proposals, with no further recommendations.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Adult Services endorses the recommissioning of Carers Support Services as detailed in the report.