THIS year has continued to bring the blows.
A new strain of Covid-19 sadly meant we had to curtail our Christmas even more than what was already planned.
For carers across the country who may have hoped to see family and get some extra support from loved ones over the festive period this will be especially hard after a really tough year.
Restrictions will continue into 2021 but hope is on the horizon. As we enter a new year we will continue the roll-out of the vaccination programme and there will be a slow return to normality. And I’m glad that carers have been recognised on the priority list for vaccination.
Polling undertaken this year by YouGov indicates that an additional 392,000 people in Scotland have taken up caring roles during the pandemic – bringing the potential number of carers in Scotland to around 1.1 million.
Many of those unpaid carers have been hit really hard by the pandemic – having additional challenges and responsibilities to juggle. The Scottish Government recognises this and we have worked tirelessly together with our partners to ensure carers have the support they need, when they need it.
Carers have told us in the past that having somewhere to go to get a break or someone to speak to was really important to them.
When COVID-19 restrictions were introduced it meant that carers couldn’t access face to face support and were not able to go to the usual places where they would get advice, assistance and support.
READ MORE: Vaccines and independence give us prospect of a brighter future in 2021
We wanted to make sure that people didn’t go without this important provision, so in response to the pandemic, we made available a £500,000 fund to support those vital organisations to shift to remote working so they could continue to support carers.
This meant that support and advice has been available to carers throughout the pandemic both over the phone and online, before face to face support resumed.
The Scottish Government also made additional emergency funding available for advice providers, including a grant of £100,000 to Citizens Advice Scotland to help it set up its new, national phone line – a long term goal accelerated as a result of the pandemic.
Many carers have struggled due to extra caring responsibilities, stress and financial pressure created by the nature of the lockdown this year.
We recognised this quickly and doubled the Carer’s Allowance Supplement payment in June – in recognition of these additional pressures and knowing that carers accessing Carer’s Allowance tend to be on some of the lowest incomes, as well as having some of the most intensive caring roles.
I hope that the financial support plus the investment in general carers support and welfare advice made the challenges brought by 2020 manageable for most.
There have been so many discussions and challenges considered to ensure we are doing everything in our power to support unpaid carers.
We were the first UK nation to extend PPE to unpaid carers, and a few weeks ago we launched a campaign aimed at carers urging them to seek the emotional and practical support that will help them look after themselves.
This year has highlighted even further the invaluable role carers provide and I want to thank you for all that you do.
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