Devon Carers: A timely evaluation in response to proposed funding cuts
PROCESS
Evaluation
Participatory Research
Providing unpaid care without support is, simply put, not sustainable. Being a carer, which often involves putting someone else’s needs before one’s own and navigating a health and social care system in crisis, seems to be the perfect storm for chronic stress, social and emotional isolation, and self-neglect. Without timely and appropriate support on problems when they arise - or better still, measures that prevent problems arising in the first place - carers mental and physical health can deteriorate rapidly.
Devon Carers supports a wide range of unpaid carers through multiple support services across one of the largest counties in the UK. Led by lived experience, Devon Carers puts carers at the heart of everything they do, and continuously aims to deliver the best support for a range of carers in different caring roles.
Looking after unpaid carers falls under the remit of local authorities. However, agile charitable organisations like Devon Carers are generally in a much better position to deliver the type of support that carers need and want. Therefore, Devon County Council (DCC) invests £2 million per year to commission Devon Carers to provide a mixture of carers services (e.g. carers assessments, emergency planning, hospital services, peer support).
The Project Brief
DCC is under pressure to reduce spending due to financial difficulties along with other local authorities across the UK, and decision-makers are considering reducing the carers budget. The council proposed a number of options - all of which would have detrimentally impacted Devon Carers’ vital service provision. In response, Devon Carers sought an independent evaluator to assess the likely impact of such changes. Having recently collaborated with Devon Carers to develop a ‘Social Return on Investment Calculator’ for Carers Trust, Devon Carers approached Civil Society Consulting (CSC) to conduct this important and timely independent report. The CSC team have drawn on its extensive experience working with carers organisations, deep understanding of the social value carers services generate and strong relationship with Devon Carers to deliver the report at low cost and with a quick turnaround.
Our Approach
THEMES
Carers
Health Systems
To assess the impact of the prospective funding reductions, the CSC team consulted with 25 experts among the Devon Carers staff team and reviewed academic and grey literature about carers and carers services. We also leveraged intelligence collected in the national SROI study which involved 13 carers services (70 staff, 353 carers, 13 external stakeholders/partners), including the impact measurement tool itself. CSC identified five considerations that present barriers to any combination of cuts to Devon Carers’ budget:
Any significant reduction to Devon Carers’ budget would not generate savings for the council in the short or medium-term.
Any significant reduction to Devon Carers’ budget would generate considerable additional costs in the long-term.
Increasing Devon Carers’ portion of the Carers Budget is a means for saving money for the council.
There has been a sharp rise in complex cases, which is set to continue, so withdrawal of support could trigger a rapid downward spiral at scale for carers and their households, Devon Carers and the wider Health and Social Care system.
Devon’s model for supporting carers is a leading light nationally; continuing to develop a robust culture and cost-effective system for supporting carers (by investing in Devon Carers) can be a source of pride for Devon Council.
After fleshing these out, the report provides a breakdown of the impact of budget reductions by service, indicating whether cessation or reduction of the service is viable. For the most part, cuts are not a viable way of generating savings: having consistently done more with less over the last 13 years (like many charities across the UK), there is “no more fat left to trim” and statutory services are highly dependent on the voluntary and community sector.
Impact
Understanding both the magnitude and sensitivity of the proposed cuts, we have produced a compelling and constructive (positively-framed) report. As always, CSC has taken a collaborative and flexible approach to delivery. As of 3 May 2023, Devon Council dropped the proposed budget cuts in light of the high volume of concerns raised in order to take more time to review its options. Therefore, we pivoted the evaluation to produce a more generalised evaluative report that will assist DCC as it carefully reviews which budgets to cut as it reduces its spending.
Read the report: Here