We must keep fighting to support Reading's Carers

Last night the Council agreed two important motions calling for justice and action to support two vulnerable groups in our community: Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender people and Reading Gurkhas and their families.

I was delighted to support both.

In the same meeting I spoke up for another group of unsung heroes: carers.

Over the past couple of years I have actively campaigned to raise the profile of issues facing carers and improve the lives of carers in Reading.

The carers I have met here have been some of the most selfless people I have ever encountered. I am grateful to them for sharing their struggles with me so I can better understand the challenges they face.

My Grandfather cared for my Grandmother in the last years of her life and I honour his memory in part by standing up for others who give up their time to care for their loved ones.

We are lucky that in Government we have a Liberal Democrat Minister in Paul Burstow standing up for carers. When he visited Reading in April I took him to meet a couple who had benefited from direct payments for carers - something he is pushing to extend to more people.

Last night I tabled a question asking for an estimate of the total number of carers in Reading and to outline the steps the administration is taking to identify carers and ensure they get access to services  of the total population.

I did this because I want to ensure that carers in Reading remain at the top of the political agenda regardless of which political party or parties are running the Council.

The answer I got confirmed that at the last count (2011 Census) 10,854 people in Reading were carers - 7.6% of the total population. Reading's total population has grown since 2001 and currently estimated to be around 154,000. This suggests there are between 11,873 and 16,972 carers in Reading.

We await the results of the 2011 Census but it is highly likely that the actual number of carers in Reading is even higher.

• In 2010, nearly 1,599 carers benefited from receiving an assessment or review of their needs through Adult Social Care. This puts Reading in the top 25 % per cent of similar local authorities.
• RBC has 307 identified young carers in Reading receiving support from our youth team - a 46% increase on the number identified in 2010.
• The number of carers benefiting from a Direct Payment to meet their own support needs has quadrupled in the three years to 2010/11 through the Council's Carers' Breaks and Opportunities Fund.

In my supplementary question I pointed out that last year in response to demand I agreed an increase of £50,000 over above the agreed budget of the Carer's Breaks and Opportunities Fund to ensure that carers got the breaks they need in response to increases and in many cases previously unmet need.

A survey of Reading carers in 2010 found that the number one priority for local carers is supporting carers to get breaks.

When I was Lead Member or Adult Social Care I placed support for carers at the heart of our policies. I asked the Lead Member if he would undertake to do the same when he sets next year's budget.

I was pleased to hear the current Labour lead councillor Cllr Orton confirm that I did indeed increase the budget and that he would seek to maintain spending carers breaks at current levels.

Backing carers - Reading's hidden heroes

Today an elderly constituent  I've known for many years and who I have assisted with various local issues came to visit me at our ward surgery.

We talked about the issue she had come to raise (relating to planning) and after a few minutes it transpired that she had recently become a full-time carer to her husband.

I had no idea about this and as I asked her about what support she was getting at home.

 It soon became clear that not only was she not getting any support but that she didn't realise that she was entitled to any.

I asked her when the last time was she had a day off.

She told me she couldn't remember.

When I probed a bit further she said she had been forced to rearrange the house so they could both sleep downstairs as due to disability her husband couldn't get up the stairs anymore.

They have a bath but a shower would be more convenient.
Her neighbour was able to help her with a few things including getting the shopping.

I immediately made a note of her needs and said I would ask the Council's social services team to contact her to see what support she could be given.

It struck me that had I not digged deeper I might never have found out that my constituent was a carer.

It is not something that people will always bring up in conversation in the street or on the doorstep.

That is why I make a point of saying to people that I am here to help them whenever I am out and about in the ward.

But it is not possible for me as a councillor to speak to every single resident.

This is a major challenge for the Council: how to respond to the needs of a resident who is not 'in the system' who they are not aware of.

It got me thinking about the numbers of residents who carer for family, friends and neighbours in Reading, soldiering on in often difficult circumstances and what we can do to support them better.

Talking to my constituent it became obvious that it had not occured to her to ask me or the Council for help.

This was partly because she didn't think she needed it (she felt as a wife of 30 years plus it was just something she had to do) and partly because she didn't know help was available.

This is evidence of the work that still needs to be done to publicise support for carers and to do more to encourage carers to come forward.

When I was Lead Member for Social Care I placed support for carers at the heart of our approach.

Our agenda was not simply about supporting carers in their role but helping them live their own lives.

What did this mean in practice?

Answer -  supporting people to get breaks by giving them access to funded respite care and a personal budget to spend on things that help them live their lives.

I have met carers who have benefited from this approach - many of whom carried on in silence for years because they didn't know support was out there for them.

This made me feel even more strongly that we must not overlook people who care for others in their own homes.

And with an ageing population the number of people who do this is set to increase.

I have personal experience of family members who have been carers and their selflessness has made a big impact on me.

In March I wrote on my blog:

"As an administration we are committed to placing support for carers at the heart of all our policies and at the top of our local agenda for transforming community care."

I said this because despite the fact Labour councillors regularly congratulate themselves on their social care record the reality is (backed up by the Council's own research) was that Council policies failed to meet the needs of carers.

When I led this portfolio I increased support for carers while other councils were cutting it.

Cutting support for carers was not something me or other members of the Lib Dem - Conservative Coalition Administration were prepared to do.

Whilst councils rightly focus on people who receive formal social care they must not ignore those people who currently fall outside the system.

A survey of 900 carers by the Council in 2010 (when it was controlled by Labour) identified the following key areas for action:

• Supporting carers to get breaks
• Promoting the take-up of Direct Payments from the Carers
• Offering back up support for carers in an emergency
• Helping new and existing carers access information and guidance on support and services.

Work I kicked off this year to respond to identified needs of local carers includes:

• Continuing the Carers Steering Group to ensure local agencies continue to collaborate for the benefit of carers
• Making a positive contribution by ensuring carers are including in service development
• Improved quality of life through raising awareness of services available and to engage with other providers to negotiate better access to services for carers
• Encouraging take up from underrepresented groups, RBC has funded an additional BME carer support group to complement existing ones offered by PRT
• Working with JobCentre Plus to make sure employers in Reading are aware of flexible working rights for carers
• Community development work alongside the Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme to ensure carers are identified
• A series of events in 2011 to link in with national events and promote carer rights, support available to them and how to access this.

At national level, Lib Dem Minister Paul Burstow has led this agenda helping to put Lib Dem values and policies around supporting carers into action.

I know Paul quite well and I know he is personally very committed to increasing support for carers which goes to the core of Lib Dem values around valuing the individual and reciprocity.
 
The Coalition Government’s Agreement sets out that the Government will look to provide increased support to carers particularly through:

• Extending the roll-out of personal budgets to give people and their carers more control and purchasing power;
• Using Direct Payments to carers and better community based provision to improve access to respite care;
• Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, consulting with business on how best to do so; and
• Establishing a commission for long-term care which will consider how to ensure responsible and sustainable funding for long-term care.

In 2010 the Council estimated that there are around 11,000 carers in Reading

My guess is the actual number is even higher.

I am pleased I was able to identify a carer in my ward today and hope I will be able to play my part in helping her to have a better quality of life.

I will be challenging the Labour administration to continue to the work I led which placed carers at the heart of social care policies as I feel strongly we owe it to residents who care for others to do the best by them.

Reading Labour - Out of Touch on Adult Social Care

Earlier this week, a neighbour pulled out of her red recycling bin a Labour leaflet which has a go at the Coalition Administration for introducing new charges for day care in Reading.

This was not an easy decision but like most things it was one we had to take after Labour failed to manage the budget responsibly when they ran the Council.

Following a detailed public consultation we agreed to phase in the introduction of charges to enable people affected time to adapt to the change.

The approach I led constitutes responsible policy-making - in contrast to blatant electioneering, on Labour's part.

In their leaflet, Labour provide readers with a guide to ‘what you could buy with £43 pounds'.

It neglects to mention that 40 % of people who receive care including day care will not  by charged under our plans – not even £5.90 they currently pay under Labour's social care policies.

This leaflet says a lot about Labour in Reading. It illustrates just how out of of touch they are when it comes to adult social care.

The fact that that Labour's menu of choices includes a meal for two at the L’Ortolan – an upmarket restaurant on the outskirts of Reading says rather more about Labour councillors' eating habits than it does about social care.

But this pathetic leaflet misses the point in two very important ways.

Firstly, it misses the point about how we are transforming and personalising social care services - something Labour failed to do when they were in charge.

Secondly, it fails to explain how Labour would fund social care when demand for services is rising.

Because if Labour didn't introduce charges for some services we can only assume they would cut services.

The Lib Dems in Reading are committed to giving all residents more choice, better services and protecting services to vulnerable people.

We view residents as individuals not passive recipients of services.

We care about meeting people's needs so they can reach their full potential - regardless of the challenges they face.

Residents are not forced to spend their personal budget or their own hard-earned cash on particular services or buy them from particular providers.

Residents are encouraged to purchase the services which give them best outcome for themselves or the people they care for.

Under our proposals, and the reforms being brought forward by the Coalition Government choice over things that really matter to people including social care lies not with civil servants or politicians but with residents themselves.

Unlike Labour, the Lib Dems locally and nationally are committed to giving local people more choice over services in future, not less.

Labour’s record and rhetoric on social care

For years when Labour were in charge in Reading the Council was run under the mantra ‘Council services are best'.

Sadly their aspiration did not result in excellent services or outcomes for residents or carers.

When I was Chair of community care Scrutiny in Reading for two years I challenged officers and councillors to provide better services following the publication of several highly critical external inspection reports by the Care Quality Commission.

It was very clear from these external inspections that for many years (when Labour were running the Council) adult social care services were lacking and did not match up to other councils.

And this - when public spending was at its height.

Adult social care services in Reading have now improved substantially thankfully.

At national level Labour ministers attempted to introduce more person-centred social care but Labour councillors in Reading resisted this as it posed a threat to their local model of 'Council knows best'.

They put politics before people.

Why? Because Labour in Reading are not interested in giving local people power and control over their lives.
Labour in Reading are just interested in power.

Hence their leaflet – another desperate attempt to win votes by attacking other parties and failing to put forward any details of how they would pay for their policies

And hence Labour's opposition to personalisation and offering residents real choice.

The most recent example of their flawed approach can be seen in relation to bin collections, when Labour councillors tried to stop the Council giving Reading residents more choice over refuse collections.

When Labour made major changes to waste collections they didn’t consult residents and the decision was made after the local elections, not before.

Why offer personalised services?

Personal budgets are about allowing people to buy services which best meet their or their families needs.

They are about allowing every individual to reach their full potential.

They are about residents getting maximum value from every pound they spend.

The Coalition Government has pledged to increase personal budgets to more people.

Because not everyone has the same needs. And the state does not always know best.

We need to trust residents to make the right decisions – with professional advice and support from social workers and trained staff.

The carer I met on Monday with Care Services Minister Paul Burstow MP explained how she had spent direct payments from the Council not on care but on a gardening because this gave her the peace of mind she was seeking.

Since her husband had suffered a stroke a few years ago gardening has become a real burden on her to the point that the couple were on the point of having to move.

Getting a gardener in has meant one less thing for her to worry about, on top of her caring role.

A few years ago buying this service would not be an option for her. She would not have had a choice.

When Labour ran the Council carers needs did not come first and carers did not get the breaks they needed.

The Lib Dems want to support carers better so we are actively investigating ways to help them increase their independence even further.

Why charge for social care?


The second reason Labour’s leaflet misses the point is that it fails to explain how they as a Party would finance social care in Reading.

The charge we have set for day care services reflects the costs they cost us as a Council to provide.

Social care services have never been free they have always been means tested.

Our day care charges compare to:

• Around £80 pounds per day charged by Wokingham Borough Council.
• Around £200 per day in the private sector.

Under Labour’s policies, Council Tax Payers heavily subsidised the actual cost of providing day care to people who had been assessed as being able to afford to make a contribution towards their care.

This resulted in the Council’s social care budget being overspent every single year.

Thanks to the financial mess Labour nationally have left us the Council is no longer in a position to operate on this kind of basis.

If we operated adult social are the way Labour did we would need to close other services such as libraries this year to balance the books.

But unlike many Labour councils – we haven’t closed a single library or Sure Start centre in Reading.

This is thanks to the prudent way in which we have managed the budget.

So we've learnt something from Labour's election leaflet: the Labour Party in Reading are campaigning against increasing choice and control for residents and against measures which help protect services to the vulnerable.

Bear this in mind when you come to cast your vote in Reading on 5 May.

Minister Paul Burstow MP Backs "Clear Plan of Action for the People of Reading"



Today it was a pleasure to welcome Paul Burstow MP - Care Services Minister to Reading. This is the second ministerial visit we have had in recent weeks in support of our local election campaign - following Andrew Stunell MP's visit a few weeks ago.

The Lib Dem team in Reading works hard all year round to improve the lives of local residents so it is nice to get support and recognition for what we do from senior figures within the Party and within Government.

I was particularly pleased Paul Burstow chose to visit us as social care is one of the issues closest to my heart. 

Like me Paul is passionate about this area of policy- in particular improving the lives of vulnerable people and championing the rights of carers - the unsung heroes in our community.Thanks to the hard work done by Paul Burstow and his team improving care and support for carers and vulnerable people is right at the heart of national government policy and The Coalition Agreement.

I have got to know Paul quite well as he holds regular conference calls with councillors so he can keep us up to speed with issues in Government and so more importantly we can feed key issues and concerns back to him.

I had been badgering Paul to come and visit us for a while. He has had a good excuse having been very busy leading the Coalition Government's health and social care agenda for the Lib Dems.

Paul Burstow came to Reading to help us launch our Local Election Manifesto: "Six to Fix".

This is focussed around 6 broad themes:

1. Cut waste, protect services and keep taxes low.
2. Protect services to the vulnerable.
3. A cleaner and greener Reading.
4. Cutting crime in Reading.
5. Giving children and young people the best start in life.
6. Better housing and decent neighbourhoods for all.

I sent Paul a copy of our manifesto before he arrived and he told me:

 'It looks like a solid record of delivery and clear plan of action for the people of Reading."

Paul was a councillor in Sutton for a number of years before he became an MP and has visited many councils up and down the country so I really respect his opinion.

 I talked to him about the work I have led to transform adult social care in Reading to make it fairer and more sustainable. We also talked at length about the work we have been doing in Reading to help improve the lives of carers.

Cllr Kirsten Bayes talked to Paul about the work she has led to balance the Council's budget whilst protecting vital services - no easy task.

After the manifesto launch in Forbury Gardens we took Paul to meet a couple who live in West Reading who have benefited from Direct Payments. She is a full-time carer to her husband who suffered from a Stroke a few years ago.

Direct Payments enable carers and the people they care for to choose what they spend their personal budget on. The Coalition Government is looking to extend this to a wider range of people in the future. 

I have got to know this lovely couple through my work as Lead Councillor for Community Care in Reading. I went to meet them a few of weeks ago to learn first hand about their experiences with self-directed support to help inform my decisions around social care in Reading.

I was very keen to see how they were doing and introduce them to Paul who I know cares deeply about these issues. 

Paul listened intently to what they had to say and talked about the Government's desire to promote choice and independence for people through the reforms he is leading on social care.

Speaking to the residents afterwards they said they enjoyed meeting Paul and really liked his informal style. He really knows his stuff so it was great to hear what he had to say.

I also picked up a few pointers from the visit about how we can make life easier for carers around planning respite care. I will be taking these issues up with Council officers to see what we can do to help carers.

Paul seemed very impressed by what he saw in Reading today and has promised to return to see the work we are doing again soon.

Towards Sustainable Adult Community Care Services in Reading

I was pleased that yesterday evening the proposals I have been leading in recent months to put social care in Reading on a more sustainable footing were agreed by Cabinet and won support in principle from Labour councillors.

I have been working day and night to develop these proposals and taking these decisions is never easy. I believe they form part of a planned transition from an outdated, unsustainable way of doing things towards a better future for services to our most vulnerable residents.

I pointed out to Cllr Orton and other public detractors who have criticsed me as heartless and uncaring that I came into politics not for any love of public finances but because I care deeply about people.

I responded to two petitions at the meeting - one from the Green Party (which I previously published here) and one from Freda Potten. I went to meet Freda in the morning with officers and I have promised to keep talking to her to ensure that concerns she has around Albert Road Day Centre are addressed in the future.

I also responded to questions from Reading Mencap about how we will be supporting carers.

Below are snippets from the presentation I gave:

Coalition Priorities

• Work to develop appropriate policies and high quality funded services to address the increasing service needs of the ageing population in Reading
• Retain the current eligibility criteria for social care for the rest of the financial year

Key Questions

In developing community care policies in Reading I have continually challenged officers around the following questions:

• Will this policy protect the most vulnerable in our community?
• Will this policy be financially sustainable in the longer term?
• Does this policy deliver value for money taxpayers?

I am satisfied that the direction of travel of our policies addresses these key questions.

One size does not and must not fit all

• Transforming community care services is about building services that fit local people's needs
• Subsidising services is both costly and unfair
• We must extend the user of personal budgets to increase choice and control for carers and service users
• We are maintaining and extending community and voluntary support
• We are improving and extending support carers as well as service users

We have listened

• We had a tremendous response to our community care consultation
• I would like to thank each and every person who responded with their views
• Feedback showed that services for vulnerable adults in Reading are highly valued
• There is a good understanding amongst residents of a need to make changes to our policies to make them more sustainable
• Specific problems were raised in relation to charges
• Respondents identified that more help and support is needed for carers
• The report and recommendation to Cabinet reflects this

Who will be affected by changes to community care policies?

• Around 40% of service users will not have to pay anything under the new system (if they are assessed as being unable to afford to pay)
• This will include a proportion of people who are currently paying for services
• More than three quarters of people currently classed as with moderate care needs are likely to move into substantial or critical need after assessment so will continue to receive support
• We estimate that less than one third of service users who are assessed as moderate will be signpost to other services in the community

How will the new system work?

• We have produced a full equality impact aassessment of these proposals and I am satisfied that all potential risks can be mitigated
• Individual assessments for care and finances will be carried out for everyone currently assessed as moderate
• Everyone in the moderate band will receive access to ou free reablement service. 60 % of people who use this successful service have required no further services from the Council
• Ther will be free signposting advice about voluntary and community sector activity they can access
• All cases where a possible safeguarding issue are detected will be treated as critical
• New charges for services will be phased in over a period of 6 months to help people adjust

A more sustainable service

• More people with more complex needs are approaching the Council for help
• Our plans save nearly £1.5 million pounds over 3 years
• Lower demand means a more sustainable future
• If we did not tackle growth pressures we would have to cut services elsewhere
• This helps us to protect valued services provided by the Council

The Council's overall budget position

• We need to make savings next year of over £18 million pounds
• We have maintained our commitment to discretionary spend e.g. carers, libraries, parks and leisure services
• We have increased our budget for voluntary and community groups
• We are still spending over £40 million pounds next year on adult social care services

In responding to my presentation, rather than attacking my vision or the broad principles I set out Reading Labour councillors chose to criticis our implementation plan. This was not tabled as a detailed plan will be developed by officers in consultation with me as lead councillor. I am not a trained social worker so I will be taking professional advice from my officers about the safest way to implement these changes. It is obviously important that we get the implementation of these policies right and I will be keeping a close eye on things to ensure we do.

I stressed several times that we could not make definitive plans for services without knowing what the service needs of all our residents are. But we would continue to work to ensure that during the transition they and their carers get the support they need.

Given Labour ran the Council in Reading for 23 years I found it a bit strange that they did not attempt to defend the way they funded services in the past. In fact they didn't put forward any counter arguments at all.

This is sad as it highlights the fact that in the main their criticisms have been politically motivated rather than motivated by any real desire to improve services.

I pointed out that given that Labour failed to put forward any kind of credible alternative budget last month (and only identified £500k of savings in next years' Budget) the Council will only be discussing one set of proposals to transform social care in Reading when it comes to approve these plans at full Council on 29 March.

Cllr David Stevens asked me how our planned charges for services compared with neighbouring authorities and the private sector. I pointed out that in both Wokingham and West Berkshire charges were almost double and that in one private sector day service in Reading the day rate was £200 per day - so I am confident our charges of £43 are not excessive.

I am confident that the plan I put forward and that was agreed yesterday by Cabinet represents the safest, fairest and most sustainable future for adult care services in Reading. I am personally responsible for adult safeguarding so I will be working overtime to ensure that the transition is carried out as safely and humanely as possible.

Responding to local concerns on charging for care

Last weekend Reading Borough Council's consultation on the future of adult social care came to an end.
We received over 1,000 responses from residents - I am delighted that we managed to get feedback from so many carers, service users and interested parties.As I have commented here before residents in Reading care deeply about social care. I am very grateful to everyone who took part as it helps me and my Cabinet colleagues make an informed decision on 14 March. I will be attending the scrutiny event on 10 March where issues identified in the consultation will be discussed in more detail.
As part of the consultation the Council consulted on it's fairer charging policy as there is a pressing need to make public funds go further if we are to be able to cope with the increasing demands of an ageing population.
The first thing to say is that social care has always been a a means-tested service. That said almost half of people who currently receive adult social care services will not be affected by the revised charging policy.
In Reading for many years when it was Labour controlled the Council has been subsidising people who can afford to pay.
While seemingly generous this short-sighted approach has put huge pressure on the Council's budget.
This year alone the Council has had to manage pressures of  £2 million pounds on the planned adult care budget as a result of increased numbers of people using our services.
In order to fix the budget and safeguard vulnerable people we proposed in the consultation to move to a system where charges better reflected the true cost of our services and that those who were assessed as being able to pay would pay for services.
Locally there has been coverage in the local media of fears that increased charges for daycare services could risk putting them potentially out of reach of some residents. These fears were also expressed during the consultation. I have listened carefully to these concerns and taken residents' fears on board whilst I have been working with officers to develop a new charging policy. 
I would like to pay tribute to local pensioner Freda Potten and Tina Barnes of the Friends of Albert Road Day Centre for the way in which they have brought these concerns to my attention and championed the needs of older people in Reading.
In response to the issues they and others have raised I am recommending that officers develop an implementation plan that helps identify residents receiving care who might be impacted by charging changes.
This is likely to take the form of a phased approach to increasing charges. As part of the introduction of the new policy all residents who currently receive care from the Council will receive a financial assessment. If this assessment picks up potentially difficulties officers of the Council will work with residents to help them pay for care.
It is worth pointing out that staying within budget on adult social care this year - something that never happened under the previous Labour administration of the Council means we have greater flexibility to support vulnerable people. If we had not tackled the overspend we would have no wriggle room at all.
These are not easy decisions to take but I have done my utmost to be as open as I can about the challenges we face as a Council and as a community. I have focussed on protecting the vulnerable as my top priority and doing my best to put the Council's budget on a more sustainable footing.
I will be blogging about other issues that have arisen in the consultation in the coming days.

Supporting Carers in Reading

Yesterday evening at full Council Cllr Tom Steele (Conservative, Kentwood) tabled a written question to me asking what support is planned in Reading to support unpaid carers. Below is the response I gave:

"Carers in Reading make a hugely valuable and important contribution to caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community.


As an administration we are committed to placing support for carers at the heart of all our policies and at the top of our local agenda for transforming community care.

The Coalition Government’s Agreement sets out that the Government will look to provide increased support to carers particularly through:

• Extending the roll-out of personal budgets to give people and their carers more control and purchasing power;
• Using Direct Payments to carers and better community based provision to improve access to respite care;
•  Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, consulting with business on how best to do so; and
• Establishing a commission for long-term care which will consider how to ensure responsible and sustainable funding for long-term care.

Locally, The Carers Action Plan 2010-12 details how RBC, along with other partners will support carers in Reading.

The top priority areas for 2010 and beyond were identified by carers as:

• Supporting carers to get breaks
• Promoting the take-up of Direct Payments from the Carers 
•  Offering back up support for carers in an emergency
• RBC currently funds Crossroads to provide the Back Me Up emergency support planning and emergency respite scheme
• Helping new and existing carers access information and guidance on support and services.

Developing a Reading Carers Communications Plan to reach more carers and ensure carers amongst whom service take up is currently low are targeted for more work.

This will form part of the tender for carers re-commissioning services and will make available out of hours support:

• Supporting carers to look after their health
• On-going work with partners to encourage carers to draw up emergency back up plans
• Offering training to carers and to ensure carers can access appropriate peer support
• Promoting awareness of carers as expert partners in care, through ensuring social care professionals and other teams (i.e. GPS) are aware of the carers information pack and trained in improving carer recognition

Work in progress includes:

• Continuing the Carers Steering Group to ensure local agencies continue to collaborate for the benefit of carers
• Making a positive contribution by ensuring carers are including in service development
• Improved quality of life through raising awareness of services available and to engage with other providers to negotiate better access to services for carers
•  Encouraging take up from underrepresented groups, RBC has funded an additional BME carer support group to complement existing ones offered by PRT
•  Working with JobCentre Plus to make sure employers in Reading are aware of flexible working rights for carers
• Community development work alongside the Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme to ensure carers are identified
• A series of events in 2011 to link in with national events and promote carer rights, support available to them and how to access this."

Caring for carers in Reading

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to attend the launch of the new Action Plan for carers in Reading, as part of national Carer's Rights Day. This plan details real commitments to carers made by Reading Borough Council, NHS Berkshire West, the Princess Royal Trust Carers' Service, Crossroads and JobCentrePlus. It has been developed by members of the Reading Carers Steering Group which includes local carers and it is an excellent example of co-production.  It calls on local agencies to do more to support carers and help carers live happier, healthier lives.
I never cease to be amazed by the work done by thousands of selfless carers in our community.
The Council estimates there are around 11,000 carers in Reading - across all age ranges and backgrounds.The Council recently surveyed local carers. The survey revealed that more than 2,000 people spend more than 50 hours a week caring for someone close to them. More than 900 carers responded to the consultation and told the Council about their priorities. They said they wanted short respite breaks, access to on-call emergency assistance, advice in looking after their own health and general well-being, and to ensure new and existing carers had access to information and guidance on support and services.
 It is now up to the Council and other local agencies to listen to local carers and do more to ensure the support they need is available in the community. As I explained a couple of weeks ago our plans to transform community care in Reading (currently out to public consultation) include plans to improve the support available carers, as well as promoting the independence of carers via  direct payments and personal budgets.
We really do owe our local carers a debt of gratitude for the work they do week in, week out, which is why I am pleased that nationally the Coalition has placed carers at the heart of it's plans to improve social care services. I am particularly pleased that the Lib Dem manifesto commitment to provide guaranteed respite care for carers is now being implemented in government by Lib Dem Minister, Paul Burstow MP. This commitment to providing more support to carers was underlined recently when the Coalition published it's Vision for Social Care.
If you or a member of your family live in Reading and have caring responsibilities please visit the dedicated carers page on the Council's website which sets out the services which are there to help support you.
Finally, don't take my word for it - watch this video clip to see Paul Burstow MP talking about his committment to carers:

Next steps in Transforming Adult Social Care Services in Reading

The national independent regulator and inspectorate of adult social care services in England, the Care Quality Commission has concluded that Reading Borough Council's adult social care services are performing well. From the official Council press release published earlier this week:
'CQC inspectors who have been monitoring the performance of the Council's adult social care service, graded the Council as doing 'well' against all seven criteria.
The Council was given particular praise from CQC inspectors for consulting with residents on the range of adult social care services available in Reading and how they could or should be receiving them in order to improve their lives, maintaining dignity, independence and well-being.
Inspectors said the quality of residential and nursing care commissioned by the Council was predominantly good or excellent and welcomed the Council's increased investment in intermediate care, falls prevention and end of life care including a range of specialist services which are provided for people with long-term conditions.
Reading's adult social care service was also found to be progressing well with regard to its Putting People First initiative, by offering more personalised social care services, such as reablement.'
This is a fantastic achievement by staff working in adult social care in Reading. Adult social care services in Reading have been improving year on year and this is entirely down to the hard work of the staff working to support some of the most vulnerable in our community.
As Chair of the Housing,Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel (2008-10) I led active cross-Party monitoring of adult social care performance, regularly challenging officers to do more to improve services, and arguing for things like adult safeguarding training for all councillors. There has been a commitment across all political parties in Reading to see these improvements delivered and this has clearly paid dividends in terms of a better service for residents we serve.
A week ago the Chief Executive of the Council and I presented awards to a large number of staff who have completed qualifications in social work and social care. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated social care workforce in Reading, as well as a Council committed to real workforce development, and I would like to thank all staff involved in adult social care for all the work they do for the community.
But the hard work and the challenges we face in social care do not end here. On Monday I will be presenting a paper to Cabinet about proposed next steps on the journey we are making towards transforming social care services in Reading. This is part of our committment to delivering high-quality, well funded adult social care services.
It will come as no surprise to anyone that in relation to social care we are faced with a number of challenges and given the number of people who receive our services in Reading (currently over four thousand) and the millions of pounds of public money the Council spends in this area I think it is important to be open about them as we seek to find solutions. Nationally, the need to reform social care funding system to reflect the impact of our increasing ageing population is well understood and next year the Commission into Funding of Social Care set up by the Coalition Government will report.
Paul Burstow MP, Lib Dem Minister for Care Services, indicated in the recently launched Vision for Social Care he is looking to go further than the previous Labour government's Putting People First agenda by expanding the number of people who have access to a personal budget, and increasing help for carers - both very welcome initiatives.
Locally the challenges we face in adult social care have been known about for some time (predating the local coalition), and include demographic pressures such as an increase older people and  in the number of people with complex needs approaching the Council for support, as well as increasing expectations from our residents for more personalised care. We must also respond to the need to extend support for our amazing community of unpaid carers in Reading who between them provide hundreds of hours of care to needy people each and every week.
In order to safeguard care and support for those in our community who need it most  (including carers) we must firstly ensure that our spending plans are sustainable by this I mean affordable and targeted on the right areas.
Under the previous Labour administration spending on social care outstripped the planned budget allocation practically every year. Labour politicians response to increasing demand for services  was to plug the funding gap this caused by ratcheting up Council Tax (increasing the burden on the elderly and those on fixed incomes) and raiding the Council's reserves. And they did this in full knowledge that demand would continue to rise and that the Labour government planned to make over £40bn worth of spending cuts after the general election! This is a completely unsustainable and if we continue down that road we will break the Council's budget. Failing to keep within our budget in future or failing to plan our future spending carefully could jeopardise care for the most vulnerable as it could force the Council to ration care. This would also undermine all the work we are doing to put people in charge of their care.
This is not a path I or my colleagues are willing to go down. So we must plan to live within our means as a Council, without placing extra burdens on the worst off, which means facing up to, and not ducking some tough decisions.
It goes without saying, therefore, that we must analyse every penny we spend to ensure we are getting value for money for services we buy, so that every pound we save we can reinvest in frontline care and support. A number of our  inhouse services are high cost compared to other local authorities and as custodians of public money we owe it to local residents to look at ways of tackling this. But simply doing things more efficiently will not be enough to protect social care services.
We need to do more to ensure our spending is sustainable and fair. For example, on Council home care charges. Under the policy we inherited from the previous Labour administration we currently subsidise people who have been assessed as being able to pay. Is this fair if it means that sfuture services to the vulnerable are threatened because our budget doesn't stretch far enough? I don't think so.
But it isn't just about what we spend public money on but how we spend it. We need to invest more in keeping people active, healthy and in their own homes. This is what older residents told the Council they wanted two years ago. And a recent survey of carers found they desperately wanted to be supported to get breaks.
But our plans also need to be flexible enough so that  for people with complex needs for conditions like dementia wehave the right number and type of beds available.
All of these challenges require  us to make changes to our current policies, hence we are required to take proposals through Cabinet and to involve the public in any future decisions.
On Monday I will be seeking Cabinet approval to go out to public consultation on our eligibility criteria for social care and our charging policy. Currently Reading is one of the few councils that continues to provide support for people classed as having 'greater moderate' needs. I understand why the Council has felt this was the right policy in previous years but times change and challenges we face will not go away. I am not suggesting that the Council stops helping people who need support but that we need to change our approach to ensure we protect the most vulnerable and invest in preventative care. This means:

• We need to offer more support to  people to stay active and in their homes through reablement services help them avoid repeat visits to the hospital.
• Local people want choice and control over their care so we need to work with a plurality of providers to meet local needs. In order to deliver more personalised care that is affordable we must accept that the Council cannot and should not have a monopoly on providing care: we have a thriving voluntary sector (which the Council actively supports through grant aid) as well as an army of carers, faith, and community groups we need to reach out to. .

If the proposed changes to Reading's eligibility criteria and charging policy are agreed in future, all existing adult social care clients would receive a personal review and financial assessment to determine how they could be best supported in the future.

• People with the greatest need would still receive services from the Council and people with the least money, would not be required to contribute to the cost of their care.
• The Council already offers a number of preventative services to support residents to live independently and improve their quality of life for longer. This ranges from providing sensors and alarms to help make residents feel safer in their own home, to the relatively new Reablement (intermediate care) intensive support programme, which aims to get people back on their feet and live independently within six weeks. The Coalition Government is committed to developing and extending these services.
• The Council has also just launched a directory of services, which gives residents a wealth of information on local and national resources to find advice, support and activities to help people stay healthy, maintain independence and live life to the full.
• Preventative services will be further enhanced through the Council's ongoing work with voluntary and community organisations to ensure residents are aware of and receive the broad range of support services that are available in Reading.
• Carers will continue to be supported to ensure they get access to services and support they need
• The Council will also work with residents to make sure they receive any benefits they are entitled to.

If the paper I table is approved by Cabinet we will be actively consulting the public and those whose who receive our services from December to February to find out what they think the balance should be on adult care services. I look forward to having that debate about how we  can continue to build high quality, sustainable social care services in Reading in future years.