North Yorkshire charities join forces to help end carer poverty
They're calling for better financial support
Last updated 16th Feb 2023
A new coalition to end carer poverty has launched by Usdaw and over 90 other organisations.
The campaign is calling for better financial support for carers and changes to enable them to combine paid work with unpaid care.
Carers UK, Age UK, Carers Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Motor Neurone Disease Association, MS Society, Oxfam GB, Rethink Mental Illness, We Care Campaign and Usdaw are among the 93 organisations who have signed up to the Carers Poverty Coalition.
They have come together in an effort to lessen the financial hardship experienced by millions of unpaid carers across the UK and will look at what carers need to support them to continue with paid work, alongside their caring role, for as long as possible.
Neil Bradbury, Chief Executive of Age UK North Yorkshire Coast and Moors, which is based in Scarborough, said: "I think we see every day examples of people who have not necessarily chosen but feel like they have to care for a loved one and it comes at the moment with severe financial penalties. Carers allowance and other benefits that are available no way make up for the inevitable loss of earnings.
"It puts an awful lot of strain on family relationships and so forth and financially it can be very damaging leading to people not being able to do what they think is best for their loved ones. It's a really timely campaign because people are under more pressure than ever and there's an army of largely unpaid, or underpaid, carers out there.
"We've got an aging population in this area and we were recently voted one of the top areas to retire to so the elderly population is growing rather than shrinking. As people get older they need support and help and often family members step up and support and there's a lot of pressure on them.
"We see every day the stresses and pressures that this puts upon relationships. When someone turns from your partner to your carer, that can have a massive impact in terms of the dynamics within the relationship and if you add to that a drop in income, then that can be quite a significant factor."
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary, said: “Usdaw has a long record of campaigning for a social security system that better supports people providing unpaid care, along with changes to help carers stay in paid work for longer while caring. So we are pleased to join forces with so many other organisations who share our aims and ambitions.
“The vast majority of care in the UK is provided by family and friends; without their willingness and ability to provide care, local authority social services and the NHS would collapse under the strain. All too often carers feel life is a pressure cooker of competing demands, with worries about money, time off work, their own health and that of the person they are caring for. Now, with more people than ever providing care, the Government must act to recognise and properly reward their enormous contribution.”
Usdaw is campaigning for the Government to lift the pressure on working carers by:
• Better enabling carers to balance work and care by introducing a statutory right to ten days paid carers leave for all working carers from day one of employment.
• Improving protection from discrimination and redundancy for carers by strengthening the law.
• Raising the rate of Carers Allowance and extending its reach.