Lessons from lockdown
Too many carers struggle in their caring role because they are not being reached by support services.
Experience over the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that well-designed online services can open up support to new groups of carers, helping them to thrive in their caring role.
This report summarises relevant existing evidence about providing online support for carers - both from the social care sector and from a wider ‘digital transformation’ background - and introduces new evidence from the experience of carers leads and support providers through the pandemic.
Where online tools have been used out of necessity during lockdown to replicate offline support of existing audiences, behaviours will likely revert to pre-pandemic norms.
However, the experience of many providers has been that the move to online support has opened up support to significant new audiences. Looking ahead, these groups (younger, and more digitally engaged) are likely to represent a larger proportion of carers over the next five to ten years.
About Mobilise
Mobilise is the tech startup that harnesses the collective knowledge, wisdom and expertise of unpaid carers and empowers those that care to thrive. We provide a range of online support services, grounded in research and tested with carers across the UK.
About the report
This paper, amongst our other reports, has been researched and written to assist commissioners and providers of carer support services as they consider how to build capacity for reaching and meeting the needs of carers in the future. The paper has been funded through the Government’s modern industrial strategy by UK Research and Innovation.
Working with Mobilise
Mobilise is working closely with local authorities and other organisations supporting carers across the UK to provide added capacity during the coronavirus restrictions.