EBS0022

Written evidence submitted by Dr Leighanne Higgins, and Dr Killian O’Leary,

Lancaster University Management

Introduction

Dr Leighanne Higgins and Dr Killian O’Leary are consumer researchers at Lancaster University. Their work investigates access barriers to commercial spaces and services for disabled persons. As part of their research, they have worked extensively with carers to persons with complex needs. Throughout 2021, they collected research on carers to better understand their experiences of care and support during Covid-19. Emerging insights from this study, we believe, will be helpful in advising BEIS in their Energy Bills Support call. We believe our research can help inform BEIS on i) managing the risks that have been overlooked in the haste to get support in place and ii) in considering future funding schemes.

Research Overview and Emergent Findings

The abovementioned study sought to understand carer support services both pre and during Covid-19. Core insights from this work have been published in the reputable journal Marketing Theory, and were published as a media piece recently in The Conversation. We believe this published research will be fruitful in advising BEIS on their energy support strategy going forward.

Critical findings from our published research highlights how carers, despite saving the UK economy on average £132 billion per year in residential care support (Carers UK, 2020), are often overlooked and taken for granted by social systems. Informal carers who administer over 35 hours of care per week can qualify for carer’s allowance, however such high level of care often comes at the cost of being unable to balance full time employment. Carer’s Allowance currently sits at only £69.70 per week, which naturally means many informal carers often struggle to make ends meet. Yet, the UK relies heavily on this care system. Such reliance on informal carers has become “a care fix, whereby the crisis of care permeating the UK is not resolved but merely displaced” (Dowling 2020). The responsibility to care for those vulnerable in society has been shifted from medical and social sectors to the individual caregivers. With the cost-of-living crisis and significant increases in energy costs, the question is how long can this “care fix” last?

Our informants have reported facing a worrying daily dilemma, where they make choices between running important medical equipment for those they care for e.g. dialysis and oxygen support machines, heating their home, or shopping for groceries. The increased cost of running these machines considering the energy crisis further disempowers and makes informal carers and those they care for evermore vulnerable. We maintain that this issue is of pressing concern to the UK government, social services, and policy makers. Carers UK has uncovered that there are currently approximately 10.6 million carers in the UK, equating to one in five adults undertaking care duties for loved ones. This figure is set to rise due to the health repercussions from Covid-19 and the UK’s ageing demographic. However, what happens if loved ones stop enacting informal care? Realistically, the UK economy and social care system would be unable to sustain the resulting costs of residential health care for those in need. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the country that greater support is offered to informal carers, and we believe support with the current energy crisis could be a good starting point.

Our Recommendations to the BEIS

Our recommendations relate to point 14 of the Energy Support Bill Report: Targeting support in the future should reduce value for money risks but
will also require a concerted approach to managing risks of fraud and error.

The report outlines, “the government has announced that it will consult as soon as is feasible after April 2023 on amending EPG, so domestic high-energy users will have their support capped”. Our research highlights the need for informal carers to be considered as one such at risk group who need greater financial and energy support. Failure to consider this group who offer immense savings to the UK economy will be catastrophic, after all who enacts such care if the carer withdraws care and support. The overarching costs in ensuring that informal carers are included in this cap will fundamentally save the UK government money in the long-run and imminently remove growing stress and pressure from informal carers.

We further advise that such cap decisions be made, not through more structured metrics such as means testing. Rather, simply if an informal carer has qualified for carer’s allowance, or should those they care for have documentation to confirm social support (i.e. Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) payments), these documents should automatically act as qualification for the energy cap. The rationale for this is informal carers and disabled populations must apply and endure rigorous testing for such support from the UK government. To ask for further proof of their need for support in the form of the energy cap will waste BEAS resource. By utilising the systems of measurement already in place BEAS will be better able to i) advise the government on adequate and improved funding schemes and ii) better allocate resources to mitigate any further risk.

Suggested References

Carers UK (2019) Facts About Carers 2019, August Briefing. Available at: https://www.carersuk.org/for-professionals/policy/policy-library/facts-about-carers-2019.

Carers UK (2020) Carers Week 2020 Research Report. Available at: https://www.carersuk.org/for-professionals/policy/policy-library/carers-week-2020-research-report.

Carers UK (2023): Under Pressure: Caring and the cost of living crisis. Available at:

https://www.carersuk.org/media/qyxbijyd/carers_uk_research_briefing__-_under_pressure_-_caring_and_the_cost_of_living_crisis.pdf

Dowling, E. (2020) The Care Crisis: What Caused It and How Can We End It?. London: Verso.

Energy Support Bill Report (2022). Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/012365-Energy-price-BOOK.pdf

Higgins, L. (2020). Psycho-emotional Disability in the Marketplace, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54 (11), pp. 2675-2695.

Higgins, L., O’Leary, K. (2022). ‘Clap for ‘some’ Carers’: Problematizing heroism and ableist tenets of heroic discourse through the experiences of parent-carers, Marketing Theory, Vol. 23 (1), pp. 11-32.

Higgins, L., O’Leary, K. (2023). How ‘clap for our carers’ made some informal caregivers feel undervalued and unseen, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/how-clap-for-our-carers-made-some-informal-caregivers-feel-undervalued-and-unseen-194777

February 2023