Agenda item

The report seeks to provide an update on the All-age Unpaid Carers Strategy 2024-28 presented to the committee in July 2023, and implementation/mobilisation of the All-age Unpaid Carers contract.

The Chairman noted that the report in the agenda provided an update on the All-age Unpaid Carers Strategy 2024-28 and implementation/mobilisation of the All-age Unpaid Carers contract following an earlier presentation to this Committee in July 2023.

The Chairman invited Councillor Jane Davies (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND and Inclusion), Alison Elliott (Director Commissioning) and Kai Muxlow (Interim Head of Families and Children Commissioning) to introduce the report. The report included but was not limited to that during the development of the strategy the Council had engaged with unpaid carers and young carers to focus on the word of carers as well as how they want care services to be provided in the future. It was outlined that on this basis the Council went out to tender and awarded a contract to a consortium of providers for adult services, with the new contract having went live on 1 April 2024.

It was outlined that the consortium was called “Carers Together”, and positive progress had been made with the consortium to fulfil the needs of the contract and that there was a Performance Outcomes Group in place to monitor performance monthly.

It was also stated that a memorandum of understanding of the unpaid carers Charter of the Council had been completed, which was an important statement for the Council regarding how unpaid carers are viewed.

The Committee asked the following questions, with clarity sought on the monthly reviews taking place, to which clarity was provided that KeyPerformance Indicators (KPIs) had been set within the contract and would review the timeliness of assessments, waiting lists and waiting times as well as the outcome of support plans. A question was asked regarding what would happen regarding training for Wiltshire unpaid carers, to which it was noted that the Council would support carers to attend the training sessions by putting in place support for them whilst they attended training. It was also noted that as part of the statutory carers assessment, individual needs would be considered to enable the Council to tailor such assistance.

A point was raised that recently letters had been sent out regarding the new emergency cards, however there had been issues in making contact to respond. The Director offered an apology as the letters had included the wrong phone number and that the Council was working with carers and putting in additional resource to respond to concerns.

An observation was made that the previous providers had poorly delivered and whether there would be penalties in place should the new provider not provide up to standard. It was outlined that the monitoring of the previous contract had not been adequate, and that learning had taken place following this and that dedicated staff resource had been allocated to monitor the new contract. Furthermore, the organisations would be challenged if they did not meet the KPIs in place and would be placed into remedial action to meet them if required. It was further outlined that the Performance Outcomes Group would feed into the Council’s wider Performance and Outcomes Board, which would provide oversight within the Council and that there would be penalties which could be implemented should organisations not meet the KPIs.

It was discussed that across the county out of the 18 Wiltshire Council Area Boards, there was only 3 Carers Champions, to which assurance was provided that work was being conducted with the Area Boards to increase the number of Carers Champions and that this could be reported back on.

A point was raised that in the report reference was made that a new post had been created to support young people in secondary education, however there had not been an indication of how children in primary education would be supported. Clarity was provided that work was being conducted to monitor attainment in primary and secondary schools as well as the impact that caring might have. It was outlined that the new post would be exclusively for secondary education, however additional posts had been placed into children’s services to support carers from the age of 5. In addition, part of this process would be to go into schools to present an information piece about supporting young carers.

The notion of quality of life and social contact was discussed, with it noted that the contract included a requirement regarding the establishment and access to existing support groups and clubs for carers. It was stated that this would be monitored, and the consortium had been asked to conduct regular social care surveys which would enable the Council to act faster to ensure greater access and support.

It was suggested that organisations such as surgeries and individuals had not been made aware of the new contract, to which it was agreed that communications would be sent out to ensure awareness was raised.

At the conclusion of the discussion, it was;

Resolved:

That the Health Select Committee would receive a briefing on the different providers and their role in delivering the Unpaid Carers contract to support report coming to committee on 12 March 2025:

• detailing implantation of the new contracts, and
• KPIs to be used to monitor effective delivery,
• delivery on the 8 priorities mentioned in paragraph 7 of the report, and
• delivery on the future actions listed in paragraph 7, with a particular interest in Carer Champions linked to Area Boards.