Pay Carers an allowance equivalent to a fulltime job at the National Living wage

Paying unpaid carers would safeguard those requiring care making it a financially viable option for friends and family to look after those they love, Reducing pressure on 999 services and the NHS. Saving vast amounts of money per person. The carer who provides continuity in care is often forgotten

Primary carers currently receive £1.85 an hour which is £64.60 a week, £3359 a year. There are over 6,000,000 carers in the UK and 1.25 Million people provide unpaid care for more than 50 hours per week (NHS survey of carers 2009/2010; Census 2001, Office for National Statistics) Carers for people with dementia alone save the UK over £8 Billion per annum. 72% of carers are worse off financially as a result of becoming a carer and struggle to make ends meet (Carers UK 2008) This is a national disgrace!

The Government fully recognises the invaluable contribution that unpaid and family carers make in providing significant care and continuity of support to their loved ones and appreciate that this informal care can lead to considerable savings in Social Care costs. That is why in June 2018, the Department of Health and Social Care published a Carers Action Plan ‘Supporting carers today’, which set out a two-year programme of targeted work to support unpaid carers. It focused on practical actions that we intend to take over the next two years to support carers, working across and beyond government.

Formal carers, i.e. those employed as “professional” carers, do of course need to receive all the protections that employment law offers, including receiving at least the National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage from their employers. However, it is important to understand that paying a wage to an informal carer would change their status and it has never been the role of the benefit system to pay people for the tasks they undertake in the way that an employer would. This has been the approach of successive Governments and reflects wider social policy aims as well as issues of affordability.

Financial support for carers through the benefit system includes Carer’s Allowance (introduced in 1976) and means tested benefits for those on lower incomes. Means tested benefits include Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer premium currently worth up to £36.85 a week. Universal Credit includes an additional amount of benefit (£160.20 per monthly assessment period) payable to support carers who provide 35 hours or more of care each week for a severely disabled person. These amounts recognise the additional contribution and responsibilities associated with caring and mean that lower-income carers can receive more money than others who receive these benefits. Most carers of working age wish to stay in touch with the jobs market, not just for their financial well-being, but also to enhance their own lives and the lives of those for whom they care. Universal Credit will provide support for carers and improve their opportunities to maintain their links with work.