Understanding the complexity and implications of the English care policy system

Abstract

This chapter presents an empirical case study that explores public policy affecting informal care in England. The focus of the governance analysis is the state’s treatment of the informal care of people aged 65 and over, in public policy. Informal care describes the care and support delivered by people well known to the care recipient, such as relatives, spouses, partners, friends or neighbours (Cantor, 1991; Kraus et al., 2010) (making a ‘caring dyad’). Older people may require a wide range of support to address their long-term care needs including personal care; domestic help; health care; social and emotional support; support with managing finances; advocacy and supervision (Bittman et al., 2004; Wolf, 2004; Kraus et al., 2010). In requiring, and providing, informal care support, both members of the caring dyad may experience inter-related poverty and welfare risks. As noted in Morgan (2018), caring can give rise to increased expenditure on care-related costs (Carers UK, 2014), and affect working-aged carers’ labour market participation leading to current and future income deficits (Evandrou and Glaser, 2003; King and Pickard, 2013; Milne et al., 2013). Care-giving can also have physical and mental health impacts (Tommis et al., 2009; The NHS Information Centre, 2010), and create time-poverty risks as informal carers attempt to reconcile their caring role with other responsibilities and pursuits.