We need to stop the care crunch before it bites, says Karin Smyth
During Labour’s time in government we understood that caring – the practice of looking after those unable to care for themselves, mainly on account of age or illness – was a social justice and an equality issue. Supporting carers was central to improving living standards and reducing poverty. In 2015 women still bear the brunt of caring responsibility, both paid and unpaid, and demand is increasing while provision and support varies in availability and quality. The next parliament could see the collision of coalition policies, deep austerity and a failing market. This would impact disproportionately on women, eroding hard-won advancement towards women’s equality. By 2020 we need to make sure that not only is the care crunch no longer an issue, it is no longer an issue impacting on women in particular.
Caring is now as critical to the building of a successful economy as skills and transport. Indeed, it is an infrastructure issue, vital to boosting growth and productivity in order to raise living standards for all of us. It is a large policy leap to take, but we are the party looking to the future with our plans for a national infrastructure commission. If we can bridge the gap between policy, pledge and reality for thousands of women carers across the country we may not need a special bus trip to persuade women, or their families, to re-elect Labour at the general election after this one.
In 2014 the Care Act was passed by the coalition which offered a watered-down version of Andrew Dilnot’s 2010 report into long-term funding of social care. Dilnot himself said in 2013 that he regretted the government’s decision to set the care cap at £72,000 rather than the £35,000 recommended, but at least pensioners would no longer be ‘terrified of the consequences of needing care.’ Most of the Care Act comes into force in April 2015 with the major funding changes from April 2016.
The act puts new duties on local authorities, including entitlement to support for carers. However, it also shifts local authority duty from one which provides services to one of meeting needs. It sets out the duty to promote a diverse and high-quality market – against the backdrop of massive cuts to local authority budgets. Private providers are seeing fees cut as councils seek to make savings and, in turn, providers cut wages and terms and conditions. Who are the main recipients of those low wages and poor terms and conditions? Overwhelmingly women who cannot access higher-paid secure work or women from overseas leaving their own families and homes to subsidise our low-wage economy and further impoverish their own home communities.
According to the 2011 census, 11 per cent of women in Bristol, where I am standing for parliament this May, provide unpaid care. Carers UK estimates that half of working-age carers live in a household where no one is in paid work and 30 per cent of carers had seen a drop of £20,000 or more a year in household income. The impact of not having work, or of low-paid insecure work, on inequality, on families and on the opportunities for children is well documented.
Politicians’ promises are trying to break through but women wait to see if the minimum wage will rise and if zero-hours contracts can be ended
Stand in any school playground, supermarket or workplace where women gather and conversation soon turns to looking after someone else. But on the doorstep people rarely offer caring as reason for voting or not voting. Voters see caring as a personal, not political, activity. Once prompted, as I have done of late, to a conversation about Labour’s Time to Care Fund, the stories come fast and are both depressing and uplifting – our capacity as human beings to bear, to love and to sacrifice is inspirational.
But people trying to utilise 15 hours of childcare and work or trying to navigate the care rules do not believe the rhetoric. They know the delivery is not there. They know how the providers work – remember, they also work for them. Politicians’ promises are trying to break through but women wait to see if the minimum wage will rise and if zero-hours contracts can be ended, how emaciated local authorities can deliver personal care packages, and what the effects of the cap on social care costs will be.
Policy promises over the last 20 years have offered general support but have often been a long way from the reality of people’s experiences. This dissonance is a problem for political parties seeking support and it is an area where political parties need to make real and relevant the promise beyond the rhetoric. We need proof of delivery.
As women look after their grandchildren so that their grown children can work and afford a home they are not feeling inclined to be hopeful. The Labour women leading the Older Women’s Commission, planning integration of health and social care and wraparound care for primary school children, know this; it is why the bus trip is so important. It may be too late for 2015 but as the Care Act’s intent crashes into the reality of austerity, and as the market fails to meet demand, when we make clear that caring is as important to our infrastructure as skills and transport then, by 2020, the electorate might believe us. We might be back on track to achieve equality and social justice.
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Karin Smyth is parliamentary candidate for Bristol South. She tweets @karinsmyth
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Read Alison McGovern and Sarah Hayward’s responses to Karin Smyth. Articles in the Britain 2020 series are all available to read on the Progress website.