Impact Report 2019
Carer Support Services
…for people caring (unpaid) for relatives and friends
Assessments were undertaken with 981 adult and young carers seeking assistance from Volunteer Glasgow’s two centres in West and in South West Glasgow for the first time during the year.
With contract funding from Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership and additional funds from Shared Care, the two centres also provided a range of support services to new and returning carers including support planning, Power of Attorney / Guardianship surgeries, income maximisation, short breaks and respite breaks, advocacy and training in key areas to empower carers in their role.
“The Carers Centre has been an invaluable resource not just for me as a Carer but for my son & his big sister. The information they provide whether its training days or kids club to welfare information and contacts has been such a huge help to us and knowing if I need any help, support or information that they are there helps me feel like I’m not alone in this otherwise impossible journey. Thank you.”
Young Carers Mentoring Service
- Provided support to 25 young carers with 15 people volunteering as adult mentors and funding from the Robertson Trust for 2 years until September 2018.
- 96% of young carers reported increased confidence.
- 88% with an increased ability to deal with everyday situations.
- 72% accessed other services with our support.
Carers Act Transformation Support Fund
To ensure Carers Support Services in Glasgow use the best possible computer systems – saving valuable staff time for the benefit of carers and their families – we successfully managed a Glasgow City Carers Partnership software business requirements, specification and product supplier options appraisal process with support from the Scottish Government’s Carers Act Transformation Support Fund (administered by SCVO) and facilitated by experts from Storm ID.
Contracts from Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership
In late November 2018, Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership re-tendered Carers Support Service contracts and despite early indications that additional resources would be available following the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act, the re-tendered contracts offered no increase in operational funding.
With much regret, Volunteer Glasgow’s Directors concluded on the basis of a robust assessment that the charity was not in a position to re-tender for the contracts we had held since 2016 and which had previously been grant funded since 1995/1998. In the circumstances, we firmly believe the interests of carers will be best served by other service providers.
Services were transferred to new providers on 1st May 2019. Our heartfelt thanks to our former carers support service staff and volunteers, to the incoming contract providers and to service users for all your assistance with the transfer process.
The difficulties in recovering full costs during the final year of the initial carers support service contracts are reflected in Volunteer Glasgow’s financial year end position of a deficit in restricted funds at 31st March 2019.
