Unpaid carers in Essex feel like the fifth emergency service
Over 90% of carers feel ignored by the government
91% of unpaid family carers feel ignored by the Government, according to findings from a Carers Trust survey, published today.
The research suggests a long-standing failure by successive governments to understand and meet the basic support needs of millions of people struggling to provide unpaid care for a family member or friend.
Almost nine out of ten (86%) unpaid carers feel abandoned by those in power, and have done for a long time, according to the data.
Veronica Sadowsky is Essex service manager for Carers First, a charity supporting carers, and says she's not surprised: "Unpaid carers do often feel like the fifth emergency service, but one that's almost completely unrecognised by central government, and to some extent, within health and social care systems more locally...
"The focus is so often on the person who's got a health difficulty and requires care or NHS treatment, and if you're a professional - a GP or a district nurse or social worker - clearly your focus is going to be on the person who requires that treatment, but actually you do need to recognise that there's somebody else in that situation as well."
She also suggested politicians simply don't understand what the role of a carer actually entails, in terms of time and effort: "Some difficult conversations need to be had with central government, because we know that unpaid carers save the UK billions of pounds a year.
"If all unpaid carers tomorrow decided that, actually, they didn't want to undertake that role anymore, which is, after all, the role that they choose to take on because they care for somebody... it would be completely unsustainable.
"We as a society would really struggle to manage all of those vulnerable people that need care without people taking on the unpaid caring role. It's definitely a something that's not going to go away, and something that's probably going to increase with our aging populations and the sort of demographic that we see in the UK."
This is echoed in the study, which found only 1% of respondents felt that politicians understand unpaid carers.
Likely due to this lack of understanding, unpaid carers are being driven into financial hardship, at least in part because they receive inadequate financial support from the government.
Many unpaid carers receive a Carer’s Allowance of £67.60 a week, but don't feel this is enough considering the number of hours they spend on their caring role.
One anonymous responder reported that, after adding up all the hours he spent caring for his wife, he was earning just 50p an hour from Carer’s Allowance.
Combined with the fact that almost half of unpaid carers have had to give up paid work because of their role, Veronica says it's clear how carers end up in financial hardship: "There are lots of people who find it very difficult, or impossible, to carry out the caring role that they pride themselves on, and they are dependent on Carer's Allowance, a benefit from central government.
"It's only ÂŁ67.60 a week, but you have to care for somebody for a minimum of 35 hours to be awarded that benefit, so we are therefore, literally, paying people less than ÂŁ2.00 an hour for that role...
"As we've all seen recently, with increasing rising prices and increasing inflation, for anyone who's on a very limited household budget, it's a matter of making really difficult choices."
Following the publishing of the survey, Carers Trust’s Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs, Joe Levenson, said: "Unpaid carers are united in saying that they feel ignored and let down by the failure of successive governments to improve their lives, including through wide-reaching social care reform that could ease the responsibilities of care placed so heavily on family carers.
"That’s why the all too familiar practice of paying lip service to supporting carers while looking the other way must stop now.
"We welcome the UK Government’s recognition of the importance of unpaid carers in the recent adult social care white paper and are committed to working together to improve carers lives, but unpaid carers need ambitious and transformational change and they need it now."
Carers Trust is now calling on the government to develop a new strategy for Carers, which would include: "Improved availability of statutory care and support for people with care and support needs of all ages, so that unpaid carers’ caring roles are sustainable; improved support for unpaid carers themselves, including regular breaks and respite so unpaid carers can live a meaningful life alongside caring; a reform of Carer’s Allowance so that unpaid carers are better protected against financial hardship."