Caring in a complex world - Perspectives from unpaid carers and the organisations that

• To understand the current picture of local support available for unpaid carers in England, we interviewed commissioners and providers of support to unpaid carers and ran focus groups with unpaid carers in four areas of England, spoke to national stakeholders and reviewed existing literature and national data sets. [...] • To better support unpaid carers locally, commissioners and services need to develop and maintain a good understanding of their populations, build local support offers accordingly, and embed awareness of carers in strategic-level and commissioning decisions. [...] We looked at what evidence is available for different types of support, what carers and professionals involved in commissioning and delivering services for carers prioritise, and what are the barriers and facilitators of access to these different types of support. [...] Views expressed and any errors are those of the authors only and not those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. [...] We help to shape policy and practice through research and analysis; develop individuals, teams and organisations; promote understanding of the health and social care system; and bring people together to learn, share knowledge and debate.