Transitions to informal care in Great Britain during the 1990s

Objectives: To estimate annual changes and trends in the population of informal carers and to investigate transitions to caregiving by age, gender, locus of care, and level of involvement. Design: Longitudinal analysis of data from the British household panel survey, 1991 to 1998, an annual prospective survey of a nationally representative sample of more than 5000 private households in England, Scotland, and Wales. Subjects: Over 9000 adults over 16 years interviewed personally in successive waves of the survey, including around 1300 informal carers each year. Results: One third of co-resident carers and 40% of extra-resident carers start caregiving each year and similar proportions cease to provide care. Five year period rates are at least 75% higher than the one year prevalence estimates. Almost everyone is involved in caregiving at one time or another and over half are likely to provide 20 hours or more care per week at some point in their lives. Recent trends indicate that more adults are becoming heavily involved in providing longer episodes of care. Although the onset of caregiving peaks in late middle and early older age, above average incidences span three decades or more of adult life. Age variations in the start of caring relationships are driven by the changing demands for care within and between generations over the life course. There is no firm evidence that carers increase their involvement in caring activities over the first three years of a caring episode. Conclusions: The population of carers is constantly changing as some people stop providing care and others take on a caring role or vary their level of involvement. Policy measures responsive to the diversity of caring roles, and geared around key transitions, are likely to be most effective in supporting carers through changing circumstances. Recognition and support for carers who are heavily involved in caring activities from the outset should be a priority

Estimating the prevalence of unpaid adult care over time

To help fulfil their responsibilities towards unpaid carers, service providers need some idea of the carer’s situation and how many might require support. This paper argues that estimating the prevalence of unpaid care across service planning and budgeting cycles provides a better indication of the size and composition of the carer population than estimates at a point in time. The number of adults providing care at any time during a year is estimated for typical catchments or organisational settings, including social services and primary health care. As well as focusing on carers who are heavily involved in their caring activities, variations in their psychological well-being are assessed to provide an indication of unmet needs for support

Unpaid carers’ access to and use of primary care services

GPs and members of the primary care team have a pivotal role in supporting unpaid carers in their caring role and helping them to maintain their own health and well-being. This paper investigates the difference that caregiving makes to individuals’ access to and use of GP and primary care services. It is based on longitudinal analysis of carers’ contacts with GPs, and a review of the literature including evaluations of measures to improve primary care-based support for carers. Men increase their consultation rates with GPs when taking on a caring role. In contrast, women who look after someone in the same household and carry heavy caring responsibilities have relatively less contact with GPs than expected. According to the literature, carers report a range of difficulties accessing primary health care. A fivefold typology is described covering barriers arising from: professional responses to the carers’ role, the way services are organised and delivered, language or culturally held beliefs and practices, carer or care recipient characteristics, and unmet information needs. Various measures to improve carers’ access to primary care have been introduced to overcome these barriers, but robust evidence of cost and utility is required to judge their acceptability and effectiveness for both carers and GPs. Although good practice guides, quality standards and evaluation tools are available to help improve primary care support for carers, further investigation of carers’ help-seeking for health care, and the factors involved, is required to underpin the prospects for developing a genuine partnership between unpaid carers and health professionals

Value Creation or Destruction: The Role of Private label in UK Grocery Category Management Decisions

Category management is a collaborative approach between food manufacturers and retailers to manage product categories rather than individual brands. It operates at both strategic and operational levels and seeks to create value ultimately for the consumer. The paper contributes to the literature and practice. It uses a qualitative interview study of twenty five senior practitioners and explores the role of private label products within UK grocery categories as consumers continue to switch due to lower prices and comparable quality to the traditional brands. The research also examines how private label manufacturers can create value within the category management relationship and how they can aspire to category captainship if they generate retailer specific and differentiated category strategies. The paper accepts its limitations and explains how further research in this important field of retailing is necessary to update the literature and help practitioners navigate their way through turbulent sector change

Solidarity with the Poor? : Positioning the Church of the Nazarene in England in 2003 and 2013

The Church of the Nazarene is committed to identifying with the poor and socially marginalized. This paper investigates how far the Nazarene priority for the poor intersects with the everyday geographies of its local presence in England. Cross-sectional data on the distribution of churches, clergy, and lay office-holders are evaluated against neighbourhood variations in socio-economic deprivation. The extent to which they are based in deprived areas is considered to reflect opportunities for identifying with people in poverty and exercising a ministry of presence. The findings are broadly consistent with the Church’s self-proclaimed responsibility to the poor. Questions arise about the sustainability of that commitment at the local or community level and the Church’s ability to respond pastorally, and act prophetically and politically on behalf of the poor

The Meaning of Funeral Poverty : an exploratory study

A study commissioned by Marie Curie and conducted at the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, explored the concept of ‘funeral poverty’ and the potential value and feasibility of seeking an agreed definition of meaning. ‘Funeral poverty’ is a relatively recent construct emerging within growing awareness of problems in paying for funerals. The term has quickly become widely used but there is no definition of ‘funeral poverty’ or general agreement of meaning. This study initiated enquiry into how the term was being used, which elements were important, and what would be advantages and disadvantages of an agreed definition

NewSpace: a place, not just a platform, for a critical pedagogy of journalism

The traditional approach to curriculum development in journalism practice has been the simulation model. Identify what 'real' newsrooms do and emulate it. The approach presented here both inverts and subverts this tradition and starts with a theoretical model which is then applied to journalism practice. In this paper, building on Michael de Wall's earlier articulation of Freirean critical pedagogy, we configure a curriculum which accounts for new and emerging technologies, while attempting to short circuit the disconnections of a techno-centric reality that is primarily virtual, by creating an authentic learning community

The changing role of the Category Captain in UK grocery retail market

Category management is a collaborative approach to product selection and management between manufacturers (suppliers) and retailers to enable the effective management of product categories rather than individual brands. This paper reports emerging findings from research that explores the category management function and its role in value creation in the UK grocery retail market. Value creation within category management relationships is reported within the research as value co-creation, value no-creation and value co-destruction. Using practice-based research, qualitative interviews of twenty five senior grocery category managers and retail buyers reveal the evolving nature and influence of the Category Captain role in a changing retail marketspace. The UK market is undergoing unprecedented change as discount retailers capture market share from established incumbents, and consumers become increasingly price sensitive and switch from branded products to private label. In this context, the role is being elevated and negotiated with a need to develop stronger, more meaningful and valuable relationships between the supplier and retailer. It is perceived that by strengthening the relationship between the retailer and the suppliers' involved in category decisions will enable a more consumer-centric approach to category development and value creation. Adopting the lens of a resource based view of value creation, findings from this research reveal that Category Captain selection and recruitment is no longer solely determined by economic resource and market power, rather market knowledge and insight is seen as the key determinant of a successful category relationship. The role of Category Captain is changing, and the new role referred to by the suppliers and retailers as the 'preferred supplier' requires a greater emphasis to become a trusted category adviser. It is no longer a 'seat at the table' bought through financial support, but one that has long-term sustainability from joint responsibility and bringing innovative and differentiated insight into the category. In conclusion the research suggests the future role needs to be impartial of the commercial function using a more 'open' and honest approach in a collaborative relationship led by the supplier. This marks a significant change in decision making related to this function and presents significant opportunities for private label suppliers and small suppliers to play key roles in category decision making and value creation. While present knowledge suggests that category managers' act impartially, this research also reveals that the role potentially brings further value to the preferred suppliers. This offers significant challenge to the role of trust and loyalty in category management relationships

Value Creation Capacity of Category Management Collaborations in the UK Private Label Chilled Food Sector

Extended Abstract Following research in category management relationships within the UK grocery market (Benson (2019); Benson et al. (2019); Benson, et al. (2019a); Benson (2018); Benson (2018a); Benson, et al. (2018) it has emerged that there is a lack of research into the nature of value creation in UK category management supplier and retailer collaborations, specifically within the chilled food retail sector. Kantar (2019) reveals the significance of private label within chilled food categories and report private label is skewed more towards fresh, with total grocery at 52.7% in contrast to produce (97.3%), chilled bakery (96%), and fresh meat (92.4%). The research will explore the capacity of category management collaborations to create value within chilled private label. In addition, the research will seek to reveal the ways in which value is created for the chilled food manufacturer (supplier) within the category management collaboration. Category management is a collective approach between food suppliers and retailers to manage product categories rather than individual brands (IGD, 2019; Gooner et al., 2011; Hubner, 2011; Nielsen, 2006). Category decision making is a fundamental aspect and output of category management and this process is now used extensively in the UK grocery and chilled sectors. There is growing acceptance that private label is equivalent to traditional branded products. Kantar (2019); IGD (2019); Shopper Intelligence (2019); Mintel (2019) state consumers are switching to private label products at an exponential rate to take advantage of lower price and improved quality. IGD (2019) state shoppers are changing to private label in all three of the retail product marketing tiers (basic, standard and premium). In some cases private label goods have moved into the premium product territory due to continued improvements in actual and perceived consumer quality (Lincoln and Thomassen 2008; Dunne and Narasimhan 1999). For example, UK premium supermarket Booths (2019) state that their fresh (private label) ready meals range is of a higher quality than branded equivalents (Benson, 2019a). Makkonen and Olkkonen (2017) state that value is created, or not, in collaborative business relationships, and have begun to explore and map the relationship between value co-creation, no creation and co-destruction in inter-organisational relationships. Category management collaborations are an excellent example of these relationships. This research investigates to what extent value is co-created for chilled private-label suppliers in category management collaborations. As the UK grocery sector has experienced a significant shift from branded to private label the findings will be of interest to category management practitioners looking to increase chilled food market share. The research employs a qualitative study using long interviews with senior decision makers within leading UK chilled suppliers. In response to recommendations made by Lindbolm and Olkkonen (2008) this study encapsulates privileged data due to the seniority of the participants. Early findings suggest that value is co-created by suppliers recommending new category innovations targeted at the retailer consumer profiles. The data suggests that the supplier recommendations need to be more entrepreneurial in nature rather than the traditional data led interventions currently provided by branded suppliers. In support of previous research (Benson, 2019a) the data suggests that the co-creation of value by chilled private label suppliers contributes to a strong category management relationship in the same way as those enjoyed by traditional branded suppliers. Furthermore, it may well lead to the chilled private label supplier being appointed as the category captain. The research is grounded in phenomenology and uses participant discourse analysis. Cassell and Symon (2011) state discourse analysis is concerned with how individuals use language in specific social contexts including the workplace. They state that research participants are able to produce an explanation of themselves, their world and construct their own realities. In this research it enables the participants to openly explain what they believe to be their individual reality within category management activities, and how they negotiate value. The research was conducted interviewing suppliers using semi-structured questions to allow the participants to freely discuss their day to day activities from the privileged position of a decision maker within the chilled supply chain. The participants varied from senior operational managers to strategic decision makers, including main board level. The verbatim data transcripts will be transcribed from voice recordings by the authors, and then coded using Nvivo software. It is envisaged that by the time the paper is presented at the Value Conference in May 2019 the findings will be complete with recommendations, contribution, management implications and further research. Following the presentation and feedback the authors will submit a full paper to the Journal of Creating Value