A service that currently supports 35,500 unpaid carers in Devon, delivered by the charity Westbank Community Health and Care (Westbank), is quietly expanding its reach and delivering big savings despite a real-term funding squeeze. 

While the County Council and the NHS are facing deep financial pressures and making cutbacks across services, Devon Carers at Westbank is providing a ‘hidden lifeline’ to Devon’s unpaid carers and doing so extremely cost-effectively, as evidenced by a new report produced by the charity that assesses the service’s impact since the current contract began eight years ago.

The Adult Carers Contract Review analyses the delivery of the Devon Carers service between May 2018 and September 2025. It concludes that Devon Carers has delivered extraordinary growth in the number of carers supported despite funding that has not kept pace with inflation or National Minimum Wage (NMW) increases. Furthermore, the report quantifies the significant improvements Westbank has made in service delivery during this period whilst achieving substantial financial efficiencies. 

Westbank’s CEO, Sarah Hicks, says, “I am so proud of what our team achieves with shrinking funding. While the public sector sees budgets trimmed and reduces services elsewhere, Devon Carers demonstrates that smart commissioning and management can produce outsized returns: reaching more unpaid carers than ever, while reducing unit costs and delivering tangible savings to the local authority, all achieved against the challenging backdrop of the contract’s real value being eroded.”

She adds, “Westbank’s exemplary delivery of the Devon Carers contract over an extended period shows how a Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) carers’ contract, focused on quantified savings, can shield Devon’s health and social care bill by helping unpaid carers continue their role for longer.”

Andy Hood, Head of Carer Services at Westbank, says, “The Devon Carers’ team is providing a genuine hidden lifeline. We are not just supporting tens of thousands of unpaid carers across the county (and even into Cornwall); we are also delivering measurable savings to Devon’s health and social care system and preventing thousands of care recipients from needing state-funded care.”

Key facts from the Adult Carers Contract Review

Scale of the service:

• The number of registered carers rose 83% from 17,916 (May 2018) to 32,766 (Sept 2025). Now 35,500 +.
• Total carers supported from 2018 to 2025: 53,000+.
• Forecast: 37,000+ by 2027/28 (109% vs baseline).

Efficiency:

• Cost per carer fell 34% from £105.53 (2018/19) to £70.22 (Q2 2025/26).
• In 2024/25, Westbank’s cost per carer was £75, 15% below the national average of £86, saving DCC roughly £345,000 that year alone.

Real‑term funding squeeze:

• Since May 2018, the value of the contract (commissioned by the Better Care Fund) has risen by only 13%, while Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation over the same period was 32%, and the National Minimum Wage has risen 56%.
• If the contract funding had increased in line with CPI, it would now be £2,743,108 - £390,648 more than the current 2025/26 value of £2,352,460.
• If funding had increased in line with National Minimum Wage rises, it would now be £3,241,855 - £889,395 more than the current value.

Additional cost pressures:

• Changes to employer National Insurance in 2025/26 (a rate rise combined with a lower employment threshold) increased Westbank’s costs by over £55,000 in that year alone. When combined with pay and other input pressures (using a 70% staff / 30% other split), these factors have eroded the contract’s real value by about £794,771 since May 2018.
• Confirmed NMW and inflation uplifts for 2026/27 will add a further £100,000+ to Westbank’s annual costs.

Efficiency headline: Using the 2018/19 cost per carer (£105.53) applied to the September 2025 caseload (32,766 carers) would yield a total cost of approximately £3.4m — roughly £1.1m higher than the current contract value — showing Westbank has delivered the same services for significantly less.

Extra value: Westbank secured £50k+ in non‑contract grants/donations and funded numerous additional projects and national‑level activity often at its own expense.