Swindon Carer's Centre look towards a 2025 with continued demand
It comes amid the council looking for an operator to continue the contract from 2026
The team at the Swindon Carers Centre say they're looking forward to 2025, but add it's going to be a challenging year, as demand continues to soar.
Following the shock news back in the summer that they were to close after their contract was deemed to not be financially viable - those who run the site have been given this year to continue their operations, while the council choose a new long-term operator.
The SCC formally withdrew from the live procurement process being run by Swindon Borough Council for the Carer Services Contract for Swindon, but reached an agreement to provide interim services throughout 2025 in August.
Chief Executive Susanna Jones has been speaking with Greatest Hits Radio about what this New Year looks like.
She told us: "At the moment, doing what we do is really tricky, and it continues to be this way, as we go into 2025.
"It's really difficult with local authority funding being challenged - and recently, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services released a report, which shows councils are still facing huge budgetary challenges.
"What this means is millions of unpaid carers across the country bear the brunt of that.
"Pretty much since Covid times, we've been seeing demand rise around 15 per cent every single year - and across the country, the value of unpaid carer support has increased to £184 billion a year.
"That's equivalent to the yearly NHS budget."
We're told 2025 is going to be a big year at SCC.
Susanna added: "Our focus will be, of course, looking at the local authority tender - and putting in a really robust bid for that, because of what we saw happen back in the summer.
"We're also absolutely focusing on this new contract until December - and making sure we deliver that to the very best of our ability.
"Our minds are firmly focused on supporting carers right across Swindon."
Currently, they work with nearly 5,700 carers in the region.
These carers support family members and friends with poor physical or mental health, disabilities or addictions - with the site actually seeing a 12% increase in the number of carers registering with the organisation in 2024.
Read more: 'Clearly there are questions to answer': Swindon Carers Centre to close after 27 years
Read more: Swindon Carers Centre to provide interim services after closure announcement