Benefits for older and disabled people

• Bringing more funding into care and support services.

• Helping to deliver the preventative agenda by providing care and support to older people who choose to remain at home.

• Raising standards of care through a third party accreditation or approval system such as exists in childcare; this could provide a means of ensuring service providers are of a high quality – for example, that all staff have criminal record and back ground checks.

Benefits for Carers

• Helping balance work and care responsibilities, by purchasing additional care and support services.

• Provide much needed respite care

• Alleviating pressure on workers with caring responsibilities, helping them to remain in work.

• Providing an opportunity for non-working carers to return to work.

Benefits for Employers

• Helping employers with recruitment and retention, especially of older and female workers.

• Providing an additional benefit to support a diverse workforce.

• Increasing motivation of staff and consequently their productivity and the competitiveness of the UK as a whole.