The treatment of informal care as a social risk in England: Conceptual and methodological innovations in undertaking comparative care policy analysis

Abstract

The combined challenges of population ageing and the reliance on informal carers to meet the care needs of older people is requiring post-industrial welfare states to address these demands through the implementation of a diverse array of care policies. These policy interventions seemingly demonstrate that states are increasingly recognising and treating the informal care of older people as a social risk. This paper argues that it is essential to undertake detailed comparative analysis at a national level to assess the effectiveness of current care policies in providing adequate social protection against the care-related risks experienced by different types of care relationships. The paper focuses on discussing the design of a policy simulation tool, ‘the model care relationship matrix’, used to analyse and compare the statutory entitlements of different care relationship types across policy areas, localities, and practitioners, in England. Using this innovative methodological and conceptual approach exposed that the English state does not treat informal care as a social risk on account of the inconsistent and inadequate statutory protection provided to different care relationships, and how the care policy system itself can generate secondary risks for care relationships.