"Receiving support is more luck than judgement" says Essex carer

A new survey by Carers UK shows more 61% of unpaid carers are worried about living cost

Man looking after his wife in a wheelchair
Author: Martha TipperPublished 24th Oct 2024

An Essex man who's a full time carer for his wife tells us receiving support has been "more luck than judgement".

It's as a new State of Caring survey by Carers UK shows more 61% of unpaid carers are worried about living costs and managing in the future.

Peter Wilkins has been caring for his wife, Susan, since she was diagnosed with dementia in 2016.

During Covid, her condition worsened and Peter had to go into early retirement.

Now he supports with all her personal care, medication, nutrition and hydration, all domestic duties around the home, and arranging appointments.

He tells us "after a few visits to the consultant, they then told us there's nothing more they can do, and we had to self-manage."

Mr Wilkins continued:

“As we walked out of the appointment, we looked at each other with a look of; So, what do we do now? Where do we go from here? We both felt lost, left in the dark to fend for ourselves with no knowledge to help us in this new journey we found ourselves on.”

Carers UK surveyed 12,500 unpaid carers: over a third (35%) don’t feel confident they will be able to manage financially over the next 12 months.

And more than a quarter (28%) are cutting back on essentials like food and heating.

60% of State of Caring survey respondents have reduced time spent seeing family and friends – likely to exacerbate feelings of loneliness and isolation amongst carers.

Mr Wilkins tells us the situation is often "overwhelming", and he feels "trapped" as he's not able to leave his wife for long periods.

Helen Walker, Chief Executive at Carers UK, said:

“Despite the fact that carers are saving the economy an astonishing £162 billion a year in England and Wales alone, many carers are living in poverty.

This month, the Secretary of State of Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, announced that the Government will commission an independent review of Carer’s Allowance overpayments – to assess how these have been accrued on such a vast scale.

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