1. A new care landscape The Business of Care, Demos, March 21st 2007 Neil Churchill Communications Director

2. Care in 2007 6 million people in the UK currently provide some form of unpaid care Older people provide a significant portion: 16% of men and 17% of women aged 50+ provide unpaid care. 70% of the people cared for are over 65 In the next 25 years it is estimated that the number of people providing care will have to increase to 9 million

3. The Deficit Model of Care We tend to think of care as being delivered: (1)Formally by a (professionally trained and skilled) workforce; and (2)Informally by relatives and friends, who may or may not be in paid work. Our understanding of care has largely been characterised by the relationship between the care-giver, who we tend to perceive as female, and the care-receiver, who is assumed to be dependent.

4. The Demographic Realities Demographic and socio-economic change means our future expectations of care-giving can no longer be based on the assumptions of the past. We know there will be: A near doubling in percentage of 65+ population between now and 2050. A lower proportion of older people living in married households by early 2030s An 47% increase in the 50+ population living in rural areas over the next 2 decades

5. Care Model under Pressure We also need to consider the impact of the following: The introduction of a higher State Pension Age on the numbers of people working for longer Potentially shrinking pool of formal care workers. A MORI Poll for Carers UK (2006) showed that 35% of people surveyed will not or cannot provide care in the future. The British Social Attitudes survey indicates that people are willing, but don’t feel they can be mainly responsible.

6. A Bleak Care Landscape? Questions:  Will longer working lives and a reduced state role place impossible pressures on informal care?  Or can we construct a new care ethic that moves away from notions of dependence but which is centred on adjustment and co-production instead?

7. Networks of care It’s useful to think of care not just as an act of citizenship, or an economic contribution, but also as a social ‘glue’ that can increase social cohesion. A new ‘ethic of care’ would see care valued as a ‘public good’ and mainstreamed into a range of daily activities. Care would no longer be ‘left to certain people’, but it would be ‘co-produced’ and mainstreamed into all our lives.

8. Who are the caregivers of the future? It’s worth questioning certain orthodoxies about who will provide unpaid care and what care constitutes. Increasingly care is being conceived of in reciprocal terms. Positive examples include: ‘Homeshare’ schemes Community networks of support (e.g: Timebank schemes) Extra care housing being treated as a community resource that other members of the community can use.

9. Model of Inter-Dependency Individual Family LocalAuthority Friends/Colleagues Neighbours Time bank volunteerTemporaryLodger HealthMentorsHousingresidents New forms of reciprocal support Traditional Forms Of Support

10. But…New Pressures on Networks Individual Making Adjustments Grandchildren to look after Family members migrating migrating Loss of Bridging Social Capital Extended Working Lives Lives

11. A New Divide? There’s a risk a gulf might emerge between those people that benefit from the networks they belong to and those people that remain dependent on the state. The well networked Light-touch government Inter-dependent The Poorly Networked Difficult to map But dependent on government Individual Individual State DistantFamily

12. Policy Implications The recent announcements in the New Deal for Carers were a welcome advance. However, to truly move away from a deficit model of care we need to stop thinking solely in terms about what the state can do to help support care-givers and care- receivers. In a ‘mosaic society’ we need to give greater thought about how care can be embedded in communities and transcend traditional ties.