Within the context of a national welfare, different sectors play a role in what can be defined as a “mixed economy of welfare” in order to sustain and guarantee the provision of help and benefits necessary to ensure the wellbeing of all the citizens living in that country. In a mixed economy of welfare, the state is not the sole main provider of welfare, as several functions are covered as well by other sectors (Harris, 2004): the private, or market sector, which “involves the sale and purchase of welfare services” (Holden, 2012) and is for profit, the voluntary, or third sector, that dates back to the Victorian Era and has been defined as the “backbone of the civil society” (Wolfenden of Westcott, 1978:322) and the informal sector , which
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Within families and communities the ideal of mutual help might be very common or taken for granted (Alcock and May, 2014), thus the people providing care to others might be doing it without having the knowledge of being part of a welfare service, also because the concept of informal care has been generalised as having to do only with long-term commitments of care for people with disabilities or other health problems which occupy significant amount of time in the life of carers. For example, in Scotland, according to the 2011 Census for the Health and Provision of Unpaid Care (National Record of Scotland, 2013), 5.295.403 people are involved in the informal sector provision, and the number increases even more if taken into …show more content…
Despite the increased political awareness put on the matter during recent years, given the important contributions that the informal sector provided to the mixed economy of welfare (Baldock, Mitton, Manning and Vickerstaff, 2012), which resulted in positive outcomes related to the wellbeing of the person or to the quality of care (as with the 2014 Care Act) or even in the increase of Carers’ Allowance (currently £62.10 for the year 2016/2017. Gov.uk, online) in order to support the financial expenses they might encounter, there still are several disadvantages that come from being carers. In order to provide appropriate care, carers are generally involved in caregiving activities for several hours a day, resulting in significant amounts of time during the week. Often enough, this commitment takes time away from other actions such as social life or work and might, eventually, result in reduced employment opportunities: given the time they have to spend supplying care, caregivers often stay unemployed, or if they have a job, they might have to leave it in order to dedicate themselves to providing care. This, hence, usually generates a lack of income that then may lead onto other problems related to poor health, poor education (in case of families) or crime (Darton and Strelitz,
Within families and communities the ideal of mutual help might be very common or taken for granted (Alcock and May, 2014), thus the people providing care to others might be doing it without having the knowledge of being part of a welfare service, also because the concept of informal care has been generalised as having to do only with long-term commitments of care for people with disabilities or other health problems which occupy significant amount of time in the life of carers. For example, in Scotland, according to the 2011 Census for the Health and Provision of Unpaid Care (National Record of Scotland, 2013), 5.295.403 people are involved in the informal sector provision, and the number increases even more if taken into …show more content…
Despite the increased political awareness put on the matter during recent years, given the important contributions that the informal sector provided to the mixed economy of welfare (Baldock, Mitton, Manning and Vickerstaff, 2012), which resulted in positive outcomes related to the wellbeing of the person or to the quality of care (as with the 2014 Care Act) or even in the increase of Carers’ Allowance (currently £62.10 for the year 2016/2017. Gov.uk, online) in order to support the financial expenses they might encounter, there still are several disadvantages that come from being carers. In order to provide appropriate care, carers are generally involved in caregiving activities for several hours a day, resulting in significant amounts of time during the week. Often enough, this commitment takes time away from other actions such as social life or work and might, eventually, result in reduced employment opportunities: given the time they have to spend supplying care, caregivers often stay unemployed, or if they have a job, they might have to leave it in order to dedicate themselves to providing care. This, hence, usually generates a lack of income that then may lead onto other problems related to poor health, poor education (in case of families) or crime (Darton and Strelitz,