1. MENTAL HEALTH CARERS ARAFMI NSW INC Head office at: Suite 501, Level 5 80 William St Woolloomooloo NSW 2011 Tel: (02) 9332 0777 Fax: (02) 9332 0778 Email: admin@arafmi.orgadmin@arafmi.org

2. The Future of Respite for Mental Health Carers Under Self-Directed Disability Support Schemes

3. ‘Respite’ is currently considered to be give the carer a break to enhance their capacity to keep on caring. In a self-directed scheme ‘respite’ disappears and becomes all about the services that the consumer wants to have which incidentally also give the carer respite. Both the English (Individual Budget) and Australian self-directed disability support schemes (NDIS / PiR) have sought to minimise carer support.

4. Carers experience the UK? “Can individual budgets have an impact on carers and the caring role?” A study conducted by the University of Kent Found that the introduction of cash-for-care schemes such as individual or personal budgets in England was significantly associated with positive impacts on carers’ reported quality of life and, when other factors were taken into account, with social care outcomes. These outcome gains were achieved despite no higher costs being incurred to the public purse, thus suggesting that IBs for service users are cost-effective for carers.

5. Carers NSW Report The NDIS one year in Experiences of carers in the Hunter trial site A Carers NSW issues paper September 2014: Carers of NDIS participants are likely to benefit from the funded supports. Some funding for some supports to sustain informal care arrangements.

6. However Carers providing assistance to service users with either a mental health illness were much less likely to participate in care planning compared to others (16% to 31%). Page 165 ‘The principal cost to the carer is the opportunity cost of the time spent on caring… Carers of IB (Individual Budget) holders spent 81 hours per week caring, compared with 72 hours among carers in the comparison group, although this was not statistically significant. Page 166

7. However: A large number of people with disability will not be eligible for the NDIS The NDIS is not about carers, and that carers are not entitled to funded support in their own right Carers of people with disability may no longer have access to Commonwealth funded carer supports outside the NDIS

8. “Funded supports will be available to an estimated 460,000 Australians, however, …. the numbers of Australians with a reported disability, even those with a profound or severe core activity limitation, in the target age group (0-64) who needed assistance with at least one activity in 2012 are much higher than this, at approximately 1.4 million and 710,000 respectively.”

9. The way in which the NDIS scheme is designed not to duplicate care and so things the consumer already receives for free are expected to continue, including informal care, so that there is an expectation that this support from unpaid carers will continue to be provided on an unpaid basis Australian Bureau of Statistics data60% of carers provide ongoing care for periods of five years or more.On average, 104 hours a week caring.annual replacement value of informal care in Australia is estimated to exceed $40 billion per annum.Carers of a person with mental illness have consistently reported that they have great difficulties accessing both the Carer Payment and Carer Allowance.

10. There are suggestions that as a result of the NDIS there will be a lot less need for carers to receive the carer benefits through Centrelink A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes Interim Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social Services (McClure Report) “For many carers, the NDIS will enable them to work part-time or participate in activities that may enhance their employment prospects when no longer caring.” The 15 keys areas recommended for cuts (by the Commission of Audit) are the aged pension, Medicare benefits, hospitals, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, National Disability Insurance Scheme, carers' payments, aged care, the Disability Support Pension, childcare and paid parental leave, family tax benefits, job seeker payments, school funding, higher education, defence and foreign aid.