Financial Support for Family Carers
Introduction
This paper responds to a request from the Minister of Labour in May 2007 for a think piece by the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women (NACEW) on providing financial support to family carers. The Council acknowledges and supports the current work taking place as part of the New Zealand Carers’ Strategy and Five-year Action Plan which was released in April 2008.
Background
NACEW was established in 1967 as an independent advisory body to the Minister of Labour on matters related to women and employment, and charged with the following responsibilities:
- to advise the Minister of Labour on matters referred to him/her concerning the employment of women
- to express views and make recommendations as appropriate to the Minister of Labour on matters relating to the employment of women
- to make representations or submissions as appropriate to public bodies such as Commissions of Enquiry, subject to the approval of the Minister
- to promote the dissemination of information on the employment of women in New Zealand and overseas.
NACEW’s approach
Two-thirds of unpaid carers are women who are mainly, but not exclusively, family members. Enabling women to have meaningful choices about balancing paid work with participation in family and community life has been a focus of NACEW’s deliberations over its forty years in existence.
Recognising the value, and contribution, of formal care services is essential to the support of informal carers. As the work of paid carers becomes recognised and more appropriately remunerated, the terms and conditions of the workforce improve, and workforce issues such as retraction, retention, and skills shortages are reduced.
Pivotal to supporting parents’ work choices and parenting has been the valuing of childcare and improvements to the quality, quantity, and affordability of formal child care services. Affordable, quality formal care services are also the lynchpin for supporting meaningful choices for family carers.
Outline of this paper
The paper first discusses the number and characteristics of family carers and the drivers behind New Zealand taking a new look at its policies for care giving for people experiencing ill-health, disability, mental illness, addiction or frailty in their old age. It then looks at family care-giving in the international context of country policies on care. It identifies the principles that NACEW consider should underpin policies on family care-giving, the implications these have for paying for family carers, and makes recommendations for moving forward.
The Terms of Reference for this paper on providing financial support for informal carers is attached as Annex One. Annex Two contains the supporting analysis behind NACEW’s recommendation to increase formal care services, and improve their quality as the key support to family carers.
