In November 2007 the SNP government announced Scotland’s budget for 2008-2011, and at the same time set out a new relationship with local councils (often called local authorities). This relationship is explained in a Concordat agreement.
Essentially, the Concordat sets out a deal between the government and local councils, which offers councils an enhanced financial settlement against a promise that they will not increase Council Tax for three years. It also gives local councils greater freedom to manage their own budgets and make decisions about their spending priorities.

In the past, much of the money the council received from government was “ring-fenced”- earmarked for specific services. Under the new deal, most ring fencing has been removed. It will be replaced with national and local outcome targets. This means, in the future, councils don’t have to prove they spend money on services. Instead they have to provide evidence that people get better services. How they use their money to achieve better outcomes will be up to each council.

What the Concordat means for carers. “ Most of us need more health and social care in older age. As the population ages, we need to plan approaches to health and social care that allow people to remain happy, safely and free from poverty in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, and that help carers look after family members”
(Spending Review2007, Delivering a Healthier Scotland). There were some specific commitments made: in relation to carers’ support- there is a commitment to progress towards delivering 10,000 extra respite weeks per annum at home and in care homes (care settings). There is also a commitment to provide respite and support for an additional 1,000 young carers, along with additional resources for local carers centres.

The Concordat means “there will be a move to a Single Outcome Agreement for every council, based on the agreed set of national outcomes (underpinned by agreed national indicators, supported by streamlined external scrutiny and effective performance management” Every local authority must develop a Single Outcome Agreement for 2008/2009. These are based on 3 Strategic Objectives, 15 national Outcomes, 46 National Indicators and Targets and Local outcomes and Indicators. Local Authorities may decide on their own priorities and develop their own local outcomes, provided they relate to the national outcomes and indicators.

This all seems incredibly complicated and difficult but it is really important to carers and it is vital that carers’ needs are identified and met. Please tell us or the Council your views so that they may be considered when decisions are being made. If you want more information we have useful leaflets that have been produced by the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, which we would be happy to send out to you.

We’ve had some success with our meeting point lunches over the past few months but we would really like to see a few more people coming along. Now that we have had a few we have decided to twiddle about a bit with the format. At each of the lunches in future we will have a short presentation by a guest speaker which we’re sure will lead to lively discussion. We’re also going to have a wee competition at each of the lunches with fabulous prizes to be won! (Ok – maybe not all that fabulous…). The next few lunch dates are Friday 30 May, Friday 27 June, Friday 25 July and Friday 29 August and you’re welcome to drop in any time between 12 and 2 and join in the fun.

Lesley Childs, information officer at Fife Carers Centre, has been out and about visiting GP Practices throughout Fife delivering updated carer information and leaflets advertising the Fife Carers Centre and the services we provide and talking to the Practice Managers about how we can work together to identify and help carers. Now Lesley is looking for other ways to reach people who might not recognise themselves as carers and those who don’t know that we are here to help. We’d like to connect with people who perhaps do not have much contact with their GP Practice. One way of doing this is to do talks to various groups. If you are a member of a group such as a Church Guild or a Rotary Club and would like to have someone from the Fife Carers Centre come along to do a talk please give us a call here on 01592 642999 and speak to Lesley.