The Carers and Young Carers Strategy 2010 - 2015
Recognising the significant contribution made by Scotland's unpaid carers the Scottish Government, in partnership with COSLA, has developed and launched a new Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Scotland: 2010-2015.
" Caring Together" and " Getting It Right For Young Carers" - The Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Scotland: 2010 - 2015
(The Carers and Young Carers Strategy builds on progress since the publication of the then-Scottish Executive's response to the Care 21 Report: The Future of Unpaid Care in Scotland as well as the previous Strategy for Carers, published in 1999.)
"Caring Together" highlights the issues impacting on adult carers and sets out a shared vision for a society where:
- Carers are recognised and valued as equal partners in care
- Carers are supported and empowered to manage their caring responsibilities with confidence and in good health and to have a life of their own outside of caring
- Carers are fully engaged as participants in the planning and development of their own personalised, high-
quality, flexible support and are not shoe-horned into unsuitable support. The same principle applies to
carers' involvement in the services provided to the people they care for
- Carers are not disadvantaged, or discriminated against, by virtue of being a carer
"Caring Together" presents a series of actions that will achieve progress towards this vision and will ensure that unpaid carers are more effectively identified, assessed and supported. It's headline actions are, to:
1. develop a Carers Rights Charter, consolidating existing legal rights and setting out key principles for
carer support both now and in the future
2. put in place measures to help professionals in the health and social care workforce identify carers
3. improve the uptake and quality of carers assessments/carer support plans
4. improve the provision of information and advice to carers through various means including workforce
training and our support for NHSinform
5. ensure carer representation on Community Health Partnerships. Carers will be central to the planning,
shaping and delivery of services for the people with care needs and in relation to support for
themselves
6. produce a bespoke resource on issues relating to stress and caring to complement the successful Steps for
Stress. We will continue to work with the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland and the national
carer organisations on carer identification and support, including promoting good health
7. invest £281,000 in carer (and workforce) training this year through a grant to the national carer organisations
and to work with NHS Boards to ensure a 'training offer' is made to carers in greatest need, contingent on the
outcome of the next Spending Review
8. work with a range of partners to promote the further development of flexible, personalised short breaks and
to invest a further £1 million in 2010-11 to provide more innovative short breaks provision in Scotland to be
delivered by the voluntary sector
9. encourage and promote carer-friendly employment practices and to support Skills Development
Scotland's work with the national carer organisations to promote learning and other career opportunities
10. promote better strategic planning and collaborative working between health and social care services to
ensure the delivery of co-ordinated services and supports.
"Getting It Right For Young Carers" focuses on the needs of young carers and of young adult carers. It recognises that many young people can benefit from providing care to a relative or friend affected by illness, disability or substance misuse. However, the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA are committed to ensuring that young carers are relieved of inappropriate caring roles and are supported to be children and young people first and foremost.
"Getting It Right For Young Carers" builds on a number of key Scottish Government policy developments, including More Choices, More Chances, Curriculum for Excellence and, in particular, Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC).
"Getting It Right for Young Carers" presents a number of measures that aim to ensure that Scotland's young carers are supported to achieve better outcomes and to become successful learners, effective contributors, confident individuals and responsible citizens. Its headline actions are that we will:
1. continue to engage with young carers and will fund a fourth Scottish Young Carers Festival, in 2011
2. put in place measures to help professionals in education, health and social care to identify young carers
3. introduce a classification of 'young carers' in the 2011 school census, which will report on the numbers
of young carers who have been identified in schools
4. work with the Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance to produce a practice guide on young carers for
teachers and schools
5. improve the provision of information and advice to young carers through various means
6. commission research into the characteristics of young carers being supported by dedicated young
carers' services
7. work with a range of partners to promote the further development of flexible, personalised short
breaks
8. work with Skills Development Scotland to design and develop suitable materials and training
opportunities to support young carers' services' contact with young adult carers
9. work with Skills Development Scotland to refresh their publicity materials for young carers, so as to
highlight their options and the support that is available
10. progress a range of actions to improve support to young adult carers.
At the same time as launching the Carers and Young Carers Strategy, the Scottish Government published a compendium of "Good Practice Examples" of support for carers, which also contained a number of "Carer's Stories".
Good Practice: Carers and Young Carers Stories: "Caring Together" and "Getting it Right for Young Carers": The Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Scotland 2010-2015
A research report, which collates data from a range of sources on unpaid carers in Scotland, was also published to coincide with the launch of the strategy.
Caring in Scotland: Analysis of Existing Data Sources on Unpaid Carers in Scotland