Financial Support for Family Carers
Drivers for a new policy on family carers
The government is working with the New Zealand Carers Alliance to establish a New Zealand Carers Strategy (Ministry of Social Development and New Zealand Carers Alliance, 2007). This initiative reflects a number of imperatives.
As baby boomers age, the fiscal costs of providing care is a driver for countries, including New Zealand, to encourage home-based care. This trend is reinforced by both younger and older people generally preferring to receive care at home rather than in institutions. There is also evidence that earlier and less intrusive interventions make a difference to people being able to live independently at home, or in community settings.
Consumers want greater choice regarding care, and more equitable funding of care across different settings. While funding for home-based care has been increasing, demand has grown even more. The quality and reliability of formal services provided in the home has been compromised by the industry being low paid with poor employment conditions and high turnover (39% in 2005/06: NACEW, 2007). This, in turn, has increased pressure on family carers.
To a greater extent than ever before, women aspire to economic independence and full participation in society. This is reflected in the government’s 10 year plan of action, Choices for Living, Caring and Working, which aims to enhance the choices parents and other carers have to balance paid work with care and other aspects of their lives (New Zealand Government, 2006).
Family carers face workforce disadvantage, particularly when they need to work short hours. Family carers who withdraw completely from the workforce face barriers accessing employment.
In the 2001 Census, people aged 25-64 who worked part-time were more likely to provide unpaid care than full-time employees. At all ages and across all ethnicities, people who identified themselves as unemployed were the most likely to report providing unpaid care in the last four weeks. The heavier informal care responsibilities carried by Māori and Pacific families are particularly concerning, given that this reinforces the wage and income disadvantage that these groups already experience.
The increasing labour force participation of the traditional group of unpaid family carers, namely female relatives, is placing a double burden on working age carers. While workforce participation tends to fall as hours of care increase, many people manage to combine paid employment with high levels of care. Pressures on individual carers are likely to intensify with the impact of ageing on the numbers of people needing care, and the shrinking of localised family and friendship networks (Davey and Keeling, 2004; HREOC, 2007). This is likely to increase multiple caring responsibilities for some family carers, which in turn makes them vulnerable to exclusion from other aspects of life.
Finally, there is growing recognition of the contribution of family care and the rights of family carers. Objective 15 of the New Zealand Disability Strategy (2001) is to “Value families, whanau and people providing ongoing support”. Actions to achieve this include taking account of the needs of family in needs assessment processes, improving the support and choices they have and providing education and information for families with disabled members.
The New Zealand Carer’s Alliance has also stressed the importance of valuing and respecting the role and expertise of these carers. Without supports, family caregivers cannot maintain their caring role, their health, and a normal life (involving employment, leisure and time for other family) without stress.
A further equity issue for informal carers concerns their right to jobs. A recent, preliminary judgement by the European Court of Justice, in respect of a carer who was forced out of her job for demanding flexible hours to look after her disabled son, was that this was "discrimination by association" and that European Union laws that guarantee fair treatment at work for disabled people extended to those connected with them.
