Commission urged to help ‘forgotten’ carers

The needs of “forgotten” carers must be at the heart of sweeping reforms to the crisis-hit social care system, the leader of a national commission has been told, writes Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Holland.

Baroness Louise Casey met with carers and support staff in Newcastle recently, as part of the Independent Commission into Adult Social Care she is chairing.

The commission will report to Sir Keir Starmer on how to create Labour’s promised National Care Service and overhaul a “broken” system faced with escalating demand, spiralling costs, and an immense strain on unpaid carers.

During a visit to the Newcastle Carers centre in Byker, Baroness Casey told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she believes that the Government is “deadly serious” about delivering the reforms pledged in its manifesto.

The crossbench House of Lords peer spoke to carers and staff at the Shields Road centre, which provides support for people caring for someone due to illness, disability, mental ill-health, or addiction problems.

Newcastle Carers CEO Luke Bramhall said that carers needed to be “absolutely at the centre” of the national review and that they needed change to ensure they are no longer “bounced around the system” and forced to “tell their story 101 times” in order to get the help they need.

He told the LDRS: “Carers are the backbone of our society, but they never get the support. When that backbone is faltering or twisting or struggling, we are not giving them the support and don’t have the strategies in place to allow them to sustain what they are doing, let alone thrive.

“Our message is that if we provide support and give agency and value to carers then they will thrive and our society will thrive.”

Mr Bramhall added: “A lot of it is not about more money, it is about not sticking with a broken system. We can keep tweaking a broken system, but it is still going to be broken, or we can redefine what the system is and what is needed now in 2025.”

According to a report from Carers UK, nearly half of unpaid carers have to cut back on essentials such as food, heating, clothing and transport costs and 52% say the number of hours that they spend caring each week has risen in the last year.

Lisa Mollett, marketing and fundraising manager for Newcastle Carers, said carers often have responsibilities fall on them suddenly and are “often forgotten” in major reviews.

She added: “For a very long time the system has been under pressure, it has not been fully supported. That is why carers are picking up the pieces, ultimately, and saving the Government millions and millions per year. Without unpaid carers, the system would fall apart.”

Baroness Casey, who has also been drafted in to support the national grooming gangs inquiry, also met with officials at Newcastle City Council and the North East Combined Authority.

She said that local authorities were “doing their best” and had “much more straightforward” system than some areas, but added: “Do I think anybody living in Newcastle and about to face the care system is going to find it easy and straightforward? No, I don’t.”

She added: “There is such a huge job to be done. You have a post-war system that is not a system, nobody has had a good look at it. And in the middle of it you have the public.

“We don’t know that we are going to have caring responsibilities. We think about being a mum or a dad and we don’t then think about what happens if somebody has an accident or when people get old.”

Asked if she believed the Government would be willing to commit the funds needed for whatever reforms she recommends, Baroness Casey replied: “I think the political will is there. They are not daft – don’t ask somebody like me unless you are serious. I am my own woman and if I think they are not going to support and get this right, I will say it.

“I think they are deadly serious about it. I also think Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer understand that, yes, there might be money needed, but the question is how and what is that money spent on to make this slightly challenging set of circumstances for the public easier. Even if you don’t spend a lot more money, what would you do to make the system easier?

“I am a great believer that I want to know what the money is being spent on at the moment, how much bureaucracy it is being spent on, and whether you can make improvements to the system before I ask the taxpayer to find more money. I think that is only right and proper.”

Adam Walker, Newcastle City Council’s Cabinet member for adult social care, health and prevention, said he wanted to see a “ sustainable system that supports everyone across England to live their best life”.

The Labour councillors added: “We would like that to include longer term funding, more streamlined processes, investment in prevention, support to build community resilience, potentially greater devolution of health and care decision making, and a focus on the social care workforce.

“We need a robust adult social care sector that is fit for the future, and we look forward to working with the Casey Commission on making this happen.”