The government provides nowhere near enough support for people who care for their loved ones, writes Kirsty McHugh of the Carers Trust. Plus a letter from someone who cares for a partner with a mental health condition, and another from Jane Nation on the invisibility of disabled people
You’re right to praise Kate Garraway for shining a light on the financial, physical and emotional toll of being an unpaid carer (Editorial, 27 March). The government still provides nowhere near enough support to the millions of people – including one million children – who care, unpaid, for their loved ones every day, saving the state £160bn a year.
Our collective failure to fix social care has locked millions of unpaid carers in entrenched poverty. Carers Trust research shows that nearly two-thirds of unpaid carers have cut back on paid work or given up their jobs because of their caring role, while carer’s allowance remains the lowest-level benefit of its kind, with such strict eligibility criteria that many unpaid carers cannot claim. Meanwhile, the British Social Attitudes Survey shows that public satisfaction with the system is at its lowest ebb, with half of those who are dissatisfied citing the lack of support for unpaid carers.
