More work needed to support carers, says Scottish Government Minister Maree Todd at conference in Inverness
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Carers should be given support to remain in employment, according to a Scottish Government minister.
Maree Todd, the Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, was speaking at a conference in Inverness organised by Highland charity Connecting Carers. It highlighted the role of unpaid carers.
Ms Todd said it was important to understand the challenges carers face at home and work, to ensure they are supported to maintain good health, wellbeing, and are able to maintain other important relationships.
She said work was vital to wellbeing, so it was important to support people to remain in employment.
“Without the correct support, lots of carers will give up work or reduce their hours to cope and that can lead to financial instability and uncertainty for them and their families,” she said.
“It can have a long-term impact on their future career, their future earning potential, and it means companies are losing really valuable employees and expertise and we’re also acutely aware that this disproportionately affects working-age women in their late 40s and early 50s with over a quarter of women in this age bracket being carers.”
She said that while the Carers Act had led to significant improvements in local carer support, she appreciated there was still much more to be done and continued to work with carer representatives, local authorities and others through the Carers Rights Support steering group.
“I know there are other challenges facing us, some of which were highlighted by the independent review of adult social care,” she said.
It recommended establishing a National Care Service, with Scottish ministers being accountable for adult social care support.
The National Care Service Scotland Bill makes changes to the Carers Scotland Act to deliver a right to personalised breaks and support for any carer not able to access sufficient breaks.
The chief executive of Connecting Carers, Roisin Connolly, urged employees with a caring role to ask their employer to research the Carer Positive standard as it could make a difference
“It is vital that we all support carers and in spite of that their rights are seen and acted on through the legislation, the Carers Scotland Act,” she said.
“In Highland, there are still some of the duties that need to be fulfilled. However, through the continuous work of Connecting Carers, we hope to ensure that every carer in Highland recognises their rights and their rights are achieved.”
