Adult social care innovation projects to receive over £42m
Councils can now apply for a share of £42.6m for two projects in their area, with one focusing on unpaid carers.
The Department for Health and Social Care have set up the Accelerating Reform Fund, which, will focus on trialling and expanding new approaches to providing care and improving services for unpaid carers.
The fund also includes a commitment to invest up to an additional £25m to support carers who do not receive any pay.
Care minister, Helen Whatley, said: ‘I’m delighted to see the sector developing creative ways to move towards of ten-year vision for adult social care, and this funding is intended to help accelerate and grow these innovative approaches more widely.
‘Our selfless unpaid carers are often the unsung heroes of the care sector – which is why I’ve asked that they are at the heart of this funding, aimed at supporting locally-tailored projects that boost the quality, accessibility and independence of care.’
Kirsty McHugh, Carers Trust’s chief executive, said: ‘We know from our network of local carer organisations that innovation is already underway across the country,
‘We’re therefore looking forward to some fruitful collaborations between local authorities, local carer organisations and unpaid family carers themselves in the development and scaling of support which provide unpaid family carers with the help they desperately need.’
In May research found the value of unpaid care in England and Wales is now estimated to be £162bn, exceeding that of the entire NHS budget in England for health service spending.
This study, which was published by the University of Sheffield, analysed the latest Census data, and discovered the value of unpaid care has increased by nearly a third since 2011.
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said these funds will be ‘vital’ in helping ‘to establish innovative and supportive local practices that support unpaid carers’ needs’.
Local authorities in England, in partnership with their integrated care system area are invited to submit their expression of interest to the department of health and social care by 12th January 2024.
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