Ahead of national Carers Week, which starts on Monday, Professor Tony Chapman examines how charities are stepping in to fill the gaps left by local authority budget cuts, and asks, who is caring for the carers?

THE population is ageing. In 2001, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed there were 8.3 million people aged over 65 in England and Wales. By 2011 this had risen to 9.2 million people. After South-West England, our region has the highest proportion of people aged over 65.

As Professor Tony Champion of Newcastle University has shown, by 2037 26 per cent of the North-East’s population will be aged over 65. What’s more, the middle-aged population is likely to shrink substantially, so producing a shortage of people to provide support to those older people who need it.

The rising number of older people is often presented in the media as a crisis, but in reality, many continue working, they volunteer for charities and many make a big contribution to their families as grandparents.

As the ONS data shows, only 290,000 older people lived in care homes in 2001 and this rose to only 291,000 by 2011. But this headline figure conceals worrying underlying trends in the ability, or rather the inability, of local councils to provide support. Nowadays, 87 per cent of local authorities provide care only to those people defined with ‘acute’ or ‘substantial’ needs.

The estimated wage bill for caring, according to a 2015 Carers UK report, would be £132 billion a year if that time wasn’t given voluntarily – up from £68 billion in 2001. And the situation is likely to worsen. As the Chancellor’s austerity policies continue to bite enormous chunks out of North-East local authorities’ budgets, reliance on charities to step in and support carers will increase.

Family members are under increasing pressure to provide unpaid care: rising to 5.8 million in 2011 – that’s an increase of 600,000 in just ten years. Carers tend to be older – 58 per cent are aged over 50, and they are more likely to be women (although 42 per cent of carers are men).

The issue has been prominent in the news recently, with the House of Lords forcing government to back-track on its attempt to cap 1,400 carers’ allowances. It’s a positive step, but many still face financial hardship as they compensate for reduced support from local authorities.

At a recent Institute for Local Governance seminar, held at Middlesbrough Football Club, nearly 60 local authority officers, academics and charity chiefs got together to debate the issue. The messages were sobering. Julia Bracknall, chief executive of Carers Together, voiced concern that 84 per cent of carers now feel that their commitments were detrimental to their physical health and, perhaps reflecting the relentless nature of caring, 92 per cent claimed that their mental health has been affected.

LOCAL authorities have a duty to undertake a ‘carer’s assessment’ if support needs are indicated. Budgets are tight, but councils are doing their best to meet this expectation. Middlesbrough Council and Carers Together work closely to tackle the cumulative impact of caring by agreeing support plans with carers. A worry remains, however, that people slip under the radar and suffer in silence.

Children and young people could all too often find themselves in this situation if it weren’t for the efforts of councils and charities working together. And it’s vital that they do because the proportion of younger carers is growing too – the ONS estimates that there are now 178,000 carers aged between five and 17 years. With such heavy responsibilities on their shoulders, research shows, young people can suffer long-term disadvantage in health, educational and career terms.

Lawrence McAnelly, who leads The Junction Foundation, in Redcar, said that the costs to individuals and society are unacceptable. He points out that: “Being a young carer can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and unmet potential, significant risk of poor mental health, inability to access opportunities and an increased likelihood of experiencing significant social, economic and financial disadvantage.”

In addition to the one-to-one support The Junction offers, peer mentoring is also encouraged so that young carers can become more emotionally resilient. The Junction does a terrific job but the big question is, in the current financial climate, can charities themselves remain resilient enough to keep going?

The Junction has been tremendously successful at raising money, having been awarded 21 separate grants from a wide range of funders since 2012. My unease surrounds the pressures on charities such as these to devote so much time and energy to winning grants instead of focusing on the pressing needs of the young people they seek to help.

Mr Osborne, with one hand, has allowed local authorities to raise council tax by two per cent to help cover the cost of caring, but with the other hand has imposed another round of hefty cuts. Carers and the charities that support them face a difficult future.

lTony Chapman is a professorial fellow at St Chad’s College, Durham University