Lived experience advisory group for evaluation of Better Care Fund support for unpaid carers – paid opportunity
Survivor Researcher Network C.I.C.is working with London School of Economics Care Policy and Evaluation Centre to recruit and facilitate a group of people with lived experience to advise on this project, which aims to better understand the use and impact of Better Care Fund (BCF) support for unpaid carers for adults and to build the evidence around ‘what works’ to support unpaid carers.
We are looking for up to eight “carers” aged 16 or over – people who have current or recent experience of providing unpaid support to adult family members (aged 18 or older) with care and support needs. Care and support needs can include needs relating to disability, physical health, mental health, sensory impairment, neurodivergence, learning disability, misuse of drugs or alcohol.
The Advisory Group will have two online meetings, including the first meeting at 10.30 on Thursday 12 October.
The project
This developmental project, funded by the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme (reference NIHR205961), will be focused on understanding the current BCF-funded support for unpaid carers and how this can be evaluated in a way that will generate robust evidence that can be translated into useful guidance for stakeholders and improve support for carers.
There are three interlinked parts of the project:
- Mapping the current BCF-funded support for unpaid carers and surveying the current literature on carers’ support
- Understanding the various rationales for the Better Care Fund through interviews with key informants
- Developing a plan for evaluating the impact of the Better Care Fund.
Project Leads
Lead Investigator – Nicola Brimblecombe (Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), LSE.
Public Involvement lead – Karen Machin (Survivor Researcher Network C.I.C. Director)
The project advisory group
The advisory group will consist of up to eight people with personal experience of being an unpaid carer for an adult. Ideally, group members will also have experience of receiving or being offered support from the Better Care Fund.
There will be two online meetings of the group, facilitated by SRN, to provide some advice from experience on conduct of the project and comment on the findings. The first meeting is set for 10.30 on Thursday 12 October. The second meeting is scheduled for March 2024.
We will make payments of £80 to group members in recognition of your time in attending and preparing for each, approximately two hour, online meeting.
The project team are interested in hearing your expert advice, and will not be collecting personal information other than
- gender
- ethnicity
- type of geographical area (e.g. urban, rural)
- main disability or health condition
- relationship to the person cared for (in general terms) and
age/age band
LSE policy on personal data can be viewed here.
How to apply to join the workshop
Survivor Researcher Network C.I.C. are organising recruitment for the advisory group.
If you would like to apply to join the group, please download and complete our Expression of Interest form. The completed form should be sent to Stephen.jeffreys@survivorresearcher.net as soon as possible and no later than no later than Friday 29 September. We aim to have offered all the places on the group by 2 October.
The Study is aiming for a diverse group in relation to ethnicity, location, who they provide care for and age; the form contains questions to assist with this.
If you would like any further information or have questions about the application form, you can contact stephen.jeffreys@survivorresearcher.net
What we will do with information collected on your form
All the information that SRN collects from the application forms will be kept securely in accordance with our Privacy and data protection policy
We will use the information you give for selection to the group. For selection purposes we may share anonymised information in your application form with the study team.
For applicants not selected for the group, we will delete your personal information after we have informed you of the decision.
If you are selected for the group, we will keep your personal information until the end of this project (or until you withdraw), and then delete your personal information other than as required to process payment claims, and to contact you about further opportunities to be involved in this work.
The study team may ask those attending the workshop for personal information in accordance with their data protection statement
