Policy press

This article concerns new policy challenges relevant to companies in supporting working carers of older people to retain their jobs in Japan. Although long-term leave and flexible working measures have been reformed to address long-term in-home care, the results of new data analysis imply that the effectiveness of support measures differs according to the length of the period of care provided at home.

Book Description: Little is known about the experiences of children living in families affected by severe and enduring mental illness. This is the first in-depth study of children and young people caring for parents affected in this way. Drawing on primary research data collected from 40 families, the book presents the perspectives of children (young carers), their parents and the key professionals in contact with them.

Care: Personal Lives and Social Policy considers how normative assumptions about the meanings, practices and relationships of care are embedded in our everyday lives. It explores the ways in which these shape our sense of self and the nature of our relations with others. At the same time the book examines how social policy and welfare practices construct these relations and give or deny them meaning and validity. 

Throughout the 20th century women were more vulnerable to poverty than men which continues into the 21st century. These gender differences are explored in a chapter on gender, poverty and social exclusion in a volume giving the results of the millennium Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) Survey. Social exclusion exists where one or more of the social sub-systems is not functioning adequately - the economic, social and family and community systems.

This chapter provides an overview of different models of financial support for informal carers (that is, the kin and close friends) of older people. These models reflect the institutional and cultural traditions of the broader societies and welfare states of which they are a part. The chapter first argues that the issue of paying informal carers needs to be understood from several different policy perspectives. It then outlines four models of providing financial support for informal care, illustrated with examples from specific countries.

This article discusses the aims and objectives of the new working-age agency, Jobcentre Plus, and the challenges faced by staff in the former Employment Service and Benefits Agency in delivering on its vision of a work-focused service designed to reach 'hard to help' groups. It looks at the training needs of staff involved in the new service, and how the Jobcentre Plus Stakeholder Forum contributed to identifying them. It considers some of the early successes and problems in this process, and then goes on to explore the needs of one particular client group, carers.

Examines whether carers could be successfully brought to the scope of tax credit schemes. The article explains how tax credits work, and looks at the advantages and disadvantages of providing tax credits for carers.

This book reports on the first research study to reflect the experiences of carers of people with learning disabilities following the implementation of the 1995 Carers Act.

Reviews policy trends for informal carers which have been implemented in various countries between 1996 - 1998. The article focuses on respite care and direct payments for carers of older ill and disabled adults.