Carers still not getting sufficient respite

Not finalised' Government plans still leave carers' without sufficient respite
New Saga supported Trust aims to provide much needed breaks and respite care


The Department of Health has announced that an extra £150m will be available to double the amount of time that carers can take off. The announcement comes almost 10 years since the Government's first Carers' Strategy introduced annual grants for local councils to provide support for carers.

Nearly a quarter of carers say they have never taken a holiday away from their caring responsibilities, according to new research released to coincide with the launch of the new Saga-supported Trust to provide carers with holidays and will pay, where necessary, for appropriate substitute care.

The organisation has campaigned loudly and vigorously for carers to have a right to take a well-earned break and see the government's announcement on additional funding for respite breaks as a first step in providing proper support to improve carers' lives in spite of the fact benefits are yet to be finalised.

Although the majority of carers' charities welcome the announcement it fails to address the fact that carers' allowance at £50 a week is the lowest benefit of its kind in the UK. The new findings show that two thirds of carers are left out of pocket through insufficient financial support.

Fewer than 1% of people questioned in a new poll felt that the current carer's allowance - which implies a wage of £1.44 an hour - is appropriate. Both carers and non-carers believe that carers should be treated as full time employees in terms of pay and respite. 65% of carers, and 71% of non-carers, believe that full-time carers should be paid £5.52 (the minimum wage) or higher.

Carers face a range health issues as a result of being carers: over a quarter (27%) said they neglected their own health concerns, over a third (35%) said they suffered from anxiety and 3 in 5 feel stressed or suffer from tension.

Andrew Goodsell, Chief Executive of Saga Group said: " We believe that the Saga Respite for Carers Trust will play a significant part in demonstrating the benefits of re-charging carers' batteries."

In the first year the Trust expects to help more than 100 people aged 50 and over who have caring responsibilities.

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For more information visit www.saga.co.uk/health/carers/carers-trust/saga-respite-for-carers-trust.asp