No consistency in how local authorities spend government funding
Cash from the Scottish Government isn’t getting through to unpaid carers, despite new legislation giving them a legal right to support.
Scotland’s Carers Act came into force last year meaning carers have a legal right to things like counselling, training and short breaks.
However research shows more than a quarter of government funding for councils to enact the legislation has not been spent.
Carers’ charities sent Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to all Scottish councils asking how they had spent their share of this funding.
Findings showed that £5.4 million of the funding had not yet been spent but could rise to £9m once all the local council budgets have been finalised.
Claire Cairns, from Coalition of Carers in Scotland, said: "When the act was brought to parliament, the minister said, 'this is to provide support on a more consistent basis.'
“That was the phrase he used, and I think that's one thing the Carers Act hasn't achieved.
"Some areas haven't fully committed the funding they received from the Scottish Government and actually spent it on carer support."
Charities fear funding given to some councils had not been spent effectively and there was evidence that some funding to councils replaced existing funding that had been discontinued.
Cairns added: "It means carers are getting support earlier which is exactly what the act should be doing," she said.
"But the knock-on effect in services is there needs to be more resources to make sure that when carers come in through the door they're getting the support they're looking for."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We've provided £17.4m to local authorities to fully fund the implementation of the Carers Act. Along with integration authorities they are responsible for how they deliver support to carers in keeping with the legislation.
"While this may lead to some variation in the nature of the service delivered by each local authority to reflect their local circumstances, we have been clear in our expectation that the resources we have provided should support carers."
The budget for delivering the Carers Act is expected to be increased by £10.5m next year.
Councillor Stuart Currie, Cosla's health and social care spokesman, said: "Concerns were raised by Cosla around the funding of the act and we have committed to working with Scottish government to ensure that the policy is fully funded to allow councils to fulfil their duties."
