Date: 2nd June 2025 - 2nd August 2025
Funder: NIHR Policy Research Programme (NIHR208950)
Combinations of Support for Adult Carers: What support combinations help improve carers’ lives and what works to facilitate availability of and access to this support.
Project Description
Unpaid carers play a vital role in the health and social care system, providing the majority of care in England and Wales. While caring can be a rewarding and meaningful experience, it often comes at a personal cost, impacting carers’ health, wellbeing, employment, finances, and social lives. These effects are not experienced equally, with disparities shaped by gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and geography. Supporting carers effectively is essential to reducing these inequalities and improving outcomes for both carers and the systems they sustain. Whilst there is some evidence on individual support interventions for carers, little is known about which combinations of support are most effective in meeting carers’ diverse needs.
Aims
The overarching aim is to explore what combinations of support help improve carers’ lives and what works to facilitate availability of and access to this support. Our main research questions are as follows:
1. Which combinations of carer support are linked to better outcomes or help prevent negative impacts for carers?
2. How do carer support packages differ within and between local authorities and by local authority type and characteristics?
3. To what extent and how do different ways of working around design, decision-making, and commissioning of support for unpaid carers impact access to support that can equitably contribute to improving carers’ lives?
Methods
This mixed-methods study includes:
· Workshops with carers and stakeholders to identify priority outcomes and support types and to help develop study materials.
· Case studies in four local authorities to explore how support is designed and commissioned.
· Longitudinal survey of 800–1,200 carers to examine links between support combinations and outcomes such as health, employment, and social participation.
· Qualitative interviews with carers and stakeholders to understand their experiences in depth.
· Analysis of local authority strategies to map support offers and their relationship to local characteristics.
Project Findings
The project is currently ongoing. Findings from the scoping phase indicate significant variation in how local areas use the Better Care Fund to support carers, with a wide range of support types being offered. Further research is needed to identify optimal combinations and mechanisms.
Project Impact
As the project is still underway, final impacts are yet to be determined. However, anticipated outcomes include:
· Evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice on effective carer support.
· Improved understanding of how resources can be leveraged to reduce inequalities and enhance integration.
· Practical guidance for LAs and service providers on designing and delivering support packages.
· Enhanced advocacy tools for carers and carer organisations.
Dissemination will include policy briefings, peer-reviewed publications, practitioner workshops, public-facing summaries, and contributions to national discussions on the future of adult social care and carer support in England.
Further Project Information
Principal Investigator: Dr Nicola Brimblecombe
CPEC Research team: Dr Valentina Zigante, Dr Magdalena Walbaum, Mr Edmund Stubbs, Dr Shailey Gokhale
Collaborators: University of York (Dr Nicola Moran), Carers Trust, Survivor Researcher Network
Regions: England
Keywords: Unpaid carers, integrated care, social care, support, wellbeing, inequalities
Contact: Nicola Brimblecombe