Health trusts 'not delivering' on Gordon Brown's carers pledge

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Last year Gordon Brown announced £150 million was being made available to primary care trusts (PCTS) in England to fund "respite" for people who look after relatives and friends.

But according to research carried out for three care charities, many trusts are either unaware of the funding or have said they do not have the money.

Carers UK, together with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Caring for Carers, also found that health chiefs were unclear about how much had been allocated or denied that new money had been allocated.

And some health authorities cited budget restrictions for not being able to make any funds available, the charities said.

Carers UK said it has written to the NHS's chief executive David Nicholson, asking him to issue clear guidance to trust on providing short breaks.

The letter says: "Carers tell us that they are still waiting to see whether the National Carers Strategy will have an impact on their lives.

"In many areas they are very disappointed that the new funding for breaks services, which was one of the headline announcements for the National Carers Strategy, does not appear to have been delivered."

The charity estimates that around six million people are carers in the UK, with more than 1 million providing more than 50 hours of care a week.

Carers UK chief executive, Imelda Redmond said: "Funding has only been available since April and some PCTs may still be putting together plans to implement this policy, but our research shows that in many areas there is no progress at all and little prospect of this improving during 2010/11.

"The money might have been made available on April 1 but the announcement was made in June last year. We would have expected trusts to have plans in place before the funding was released."

Unveiling the carers support package last June, Mr Brown said: "Too often carers are unable to access the kind of support which allows them to re-charge and renew themselves, and to address this we are taking immediate action to double our support for respite care over the next two years with an additional £150 million of new funding."