It doesn't always come easily for charities to work together - even those that share the same aim. Traditional rivalries too often persist as organisations compete for funding and volunteers. But in a rare display of unity, four charities behind the annual Carers Week are showing that it can be done - and that cooperation yields benefits for them all.
For 51 weeks a year, the four charities - Carers UK, Contact a Family, Crossroads and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers - work in different ways to provide support for people caring for elderly or sick relatives and for parents looking after disabled children. But next Monday, they will join forces to launch Carers Week 2002 - a week of events celebrating carers.
It is only the second time that the charities have come together to organise the week. More than 2,000 events have been planned up and down the country, aimed at raising awareness of Britain's hidden army of more than 6 million carers. The chief executives of the charities say they are "overwhelmed" by how much they have achieved through partnership. Although still in its infancy, it has led to joint working on other projects, including initiatives on payroll giving, leaflets targeting carers from black and ethnic minorities and research into the health of carers.
The success of this partnership comes in the wake of the failure of the proposed merger of housing charities Shelter and Crisis and the breakdown of talks between Help the Aged and Age Concern, exploring the possibilities of joint working up to and including merger. Increasingly, attention is focusing on the potential of limited cooperation among charities working in similar fields.
According to Diana Whitworth, chief executive of Carers UK, the partnership was born out of economic necessity. Until two years ago, Carers Week had been run alone by Carers UK, which offers advice on carers' rights and entitlements. When sponsorship ran out, Carers UK turned to the other charities in the field - and together they put forward a consortium bid for lottery funding.
They were successful. Grants worth £74,000 a year were awarded from the community fund, spread over three years. Now, in their second year of funding, the charities are discussing future fundraising.
Whitworth recalls: "In 1999, the government published its national strategy for carers and asked us all to run an award scheme. We worked together for a year. This was successful and demonstrated we could work together pretty well."
However, Whitworth admits that this national harmony is not always reflected locally. "Trying to encourage local groups to work together is much more difficult than working together nationally," she says. Tensions arise between some local groups as they cling to historic differences and compete for a finite, sometimes dwindling, pool of resources.
Alison Ryan, chief executive of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, says that normally the different charities work well at a local level. But she admits there are "perpetual niggles" with three of her charity's 113 centres. Flare-ups are most likely to take place between people working at the trust's centres and those working for Crossroads - both charities offering breaks for carers.
However, Ryan believes this is not surprising in the circumstances. "All carers' services are under increasing financial threat because of social services underfunding," she says. "They have to fight really hard to keep services going. When organisations have their backs to the wall, it's not the best environment to get cooperation nationally."
Tensions may also result from staff moving from one organisation to another. Rob Goffee, who is the manager of the trust's Derwentside carers' centre in County Durham, switched from working for Crossroads - because it seemed the right thing.
"We started offering more emotional support and took the decision that the Princess Royal Trust was slightly better known and would raise awareness of carers' needs locally," Goffee says. "Many carers are women living in old miners' houses, looking after partners who at one time worked in the pits or the local ironworks."
Strong links have been forged with Contact A Family, a support network for parents of disabled children. It is estimated that of the 8,000 carers in Derwentside, 1,000 are parents looking after children with special needs.
"We work very closely with Contact A Family, which has a very strong voice in County Durham and across the region," says Goffee, who has organised a range of events in Carers Week, including a pie-and-pea supper, a trip to Harry Ramsden's fish and chip restaurant at the Metro Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne and a day exploring alternative therapies to relieve stress. He insists there is no competition for funding between caring organisations which have received grants from Durham county council.
For Francine Bates, chief executive of Contact A Family, the working relationship of the four charities has helped dispel the stereotypes that carers are people who look after elderly people. At the same time, she says, it has led to development of more services for parents of children with disabilities.
"Crossroads has appointed a member of staff whose sole responsibility is to find ways of supporting parents. Princess Royal care centres are also looking at how they can reach out," says Bates. Each of the charities continues to offer specialist support to carers. However, there is a growing acceptance that more people can be reached if links are made with other caring organisations.
Richmond, in south-west London, has an estimated 20,000 carers, many of whom are elderly and struggling with their own health problems. Here, the local Crossroads branch is working closely with the Princess Royal trust and other groups. Spokeswoman Eleanor Willett says the branch has teamed up with the Alzheimer's Society to open a cafe for people with dementia. This gives hard-pressed carers a break, while elderly people are looked after.
"It's an innovative project, as people are looked after in an environment which is non-institutional," says Willett. The key to success, she belives, lies in building links with other organisations. "In Richmond, there is goodwill bringing people together. As a result, we are reaching out to more carers than ever before."
