Surrey County Council says its new £300 wellbeing card gives carers more “choice and control.” But the Council’s own independent research told a very different story.
Instead of listening to carers, the Council chose to ignore the evidence. In the research, carers’ definition of flexibility clearly referred to when and how replacement care was delivered. But rather than addressing this, the Council lifted the idea of “choice” from a handful of staff suggestions, just 5 out of 27 staff members who responded, and built a new model almost entirely on that single theme. This completely ignores the concerns that the hundreds of unpaid carers themselves took part in the research project that the council sponsored, raised.
Hundreds of unpaid carers from across Surrey who took part in the 2023 review said the real problems were:
Not enough hours – 35 hours was described as “a drop in the ocean” for those caring day and night.
Lack of flexibility – carers needed support at weekends, evenings, and even whole days or overnights, not just rigid 3.5-hour slots.
Continuity and trust – especially for carers of people with dementia, autism or complex needs, having trained, consistent staff mattered most.
Uncertainty when the hours ended – too many carers were left anxious and unsupported, not knowing what came next.
Ironically, on the back of the findings of the research project, the Council initially improved the service by extending it to 70 hours with more flexible use; a change welcomed by carers. But just a month after launching the new offer, the Council served notice on the contract and scrapped the service entirely, replacing it with a one-off £300 prepaid card.
While the card can be spent on respite, activities or equipment, it does not provide what carers asked for most: regular, reliable time off, delivered by people they can trust. In the current market, the £300 would support around 8-9 hours of respite support in total. Instead of building on progress, the Council has taken a backward step that risks leaving thousands of unpaid carers without the meaningful breaks they desperately need.
Unpaid carers told the Council what they needed. The Council chose to ignore them.
