The aims of the Coalition are:
- to provide networking, information and mutual support for carer-led organisations in Scotland
- to bring carers and workers together to explore issues, analyse developments and identify key issues affecting carers in Scotland
- to develop a collective response to key issues enabling members of the Coalition to bring their concerns to the attention of interested parties at local, regional and national level
How it all began...
The Coalition of Carers in Scotland formed in 1995 as a result of a broader political context:
- The campaign around the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 - led by Carers National Association (CNA) - now Carers Scotland - had demonstrated the value of local carer organisations cooperating on issues of national and local importance, and this led to the first meeting of the Coalition in March 1996 in Aberdeen.
- The growing number of local carer groups - often under-resourced and working in isolation - identified many common features, not least the need to share good practice.
- The campaign for democratic reform and devolution had led to the establishment of Scotland's Parliament and had generated a new emphasis on the involvement and participation of local people in planning, decision making and the development of better services.
Since 1995, the carers movement in Scotland has grown in size, confidence and public recognition. In November 1999, Iain Gray MSP, then Deputy Minister for Community Care, launched the Strategy for Carers in Scotland in Parliament, and a few days later he met Coalition members in Glasgow and paid tribute to the role of carers and the work of the Coalition. The Coalition was formally accepted by the Scottish Executive and other national agencies as a national carers network representing many of the local concerns of carers and serving as an indispensable network to monitor implementation of new policies on the ground.