Concerns have been aired as a service aimed at supporting carers will be brought under the control of Devon County Council.
Procurement rules mean the local authority was unable to extend its contract with Devon Carers, which provides support services and assessments for the county’s unpaid carers.
This has prompted the council to decide to take control of this service from October, but members of a scrutiny committee heard worries from carers about this change and added some of their own concerns.
“My concern about this being taken in-house is that decisions will be driven by pounds and not people,” said Jo Earlham, a member of the public, after delivering a heartfelt insight into her role as an unpaid carer for her husband.
“Nationally, unpaid carers save the country around £184 billion a year, so what assurances can you give us that this transition will genuinely support carers, and relieve rather than add to the strain they already carry?”
Senior council officers stressed the process was a “lift and shift” one, and that unpaid carers should not witness any degradation of service when the change happens, especially as funding for the service would remain the same.
They added that the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector would still be used on a commission basis to ensure the best service to unpaid carers.
Devon Carers is a service provided by Devon-based charity Westbank Community Health and Care and is commissioned jointly by Devon County Council and NHS Devon to provide support services and assessments to unpaid carers across Devon.
The meeting heard that Westbank, like other VCSE organisations, may still be commissioned to provide some support.
Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley), who chairs the health and adult care scrutiny committee, stressed that she was “concerned about the transition” of the service from Devon Carers to the county council, and urged for a report that charted the first 100 days so that it was clear what had happened, whether any lessons had or were being learned, and how the service could be improved.
Linda Hughes, another member of the public, had also pushed for clarity on how the service’s performance would be measured on an ongoing basis.
“I want to know how the council, working with partners, intends to visibly demonstrate sustained improvement, and how will I and other carers know that improvements have taken place,” she asked the committee.
Ms Hughes, who said she had been a carer for three relatives and now volunteers for NHS England to help unpaid carers get the support they need, suggested that transparent and regularly published metrics would be important to ensure everyone knew how the service was performing.
The relocating of the unpaid carers service came as the scrutiny committee was analysing the outcome of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the council’s adult services.
The CQC rated the council as “requires improvement” overall and concluded that, while people’s experiences were shaped by “strong person-centred values and proactive engagement”, support for unpaid carers remained an area “requiring sustained improvement.”
Devon Council to Take Over Unpaid Carers Service