Page 13 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 124 - September 2024 - COMPLETED

“ Head of Policy and Engagement for AGE NI. Kellie introduced the topic of care, and what
do we all want from this stage in our life? AGE NI (https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northern-
ireland/ ) provides confidential helplines for people, to discuss topics ranging from benefit
applications and eligibility, to elder abuse by family or carers and what types of care are
available locally. The charity is funded by donations and fund-raising by the public, but they
have proven to be a trusted provider of day centre programmes as well as advice. The Faw-
cett Society wrote a report some 8 years ago on what is needed to help us bring the care
sector into line with many other professions, for the end user and the provider. This report
was written before the time of COVID, so please read this report to see how much you be-
lieve has been implemented. https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?
IDMF=f9df8aec-9d60-4ba4-bbe3-8d8eeccbac10 The group was referred to the book by
Catherine Needham “Social care in the 4 Nations” Please see the link below to a podcast dis-
cussing this further. https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-28i52-89f6bf “

Unpaid Care – Angela Phillips from Carers NI gave an excellent presentation on the
situation in Northern Ireland. It is estimated that £5.8 million worth of unpaid care is pro-
vided per year. Unpaid carers are usually family members or friends. Sixty percent of car-
ers are women, 83% of whom are working age. Among women aged 40 to 64, one in four
is providing unpaid care. Again, support for unpaid carers varies from nation to nation with
Scotland standing out having introduced a National Care Bill, recognising the contribution of
carers, paying care staff the living wage, offering a young carers grant and hospitality / res-
pite breaks for carers. The ‘asks’ from this session included a reform of Carers Allowance,
flexibility from employers and paid leave for carers.
Panel sessions focussed on the value of Gender Budgeting. Gender budgeting is de-
fined as “gender-based assessment of budgets incorporating a gender perspective at all lev-
els of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to pro-
mote gender equality.” The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) reported in 2023 that 60% of its member states now practise some form of gender
responsive budgeting. In the UK, the picture is varied, with Scotland engaging since 2009
providing an Equality Budget Statement (EBS) alongside the draft budget. The Welsh gov-
ernment made a commitment to implement targets on gender budgeting in its 2021-2026
Programme for Government. Northern Ireland is once again behind, though the Finance
Minister in her message to the conference did reference the importance of gender budget-
ing.
The key message from the two-day conference is that Government should look to
creating a caring economy. It makes economic sense to ensure budgets are gender linked.

In conclusion, we all had many thoughts, but as ever this will come to the budget
available. But, what we can all do is make our legislature know how we feel, write to our
politicians, both locally and via the All Party Parliamentary Groups. https://
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/240828/register-240828.pdf

If you want to know who to write to ……www.carersuk.org is a great starting
point.

Jeanette Thornton and Jo Kinsey