National Carers Strategy

Baroness Merron Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, we are committed to supporting unpaid carers through our renewed vision for adult social care and the 10-year plan for the National Health Service. We have already taken action to increase the carer’s allowance earning limit, meaning that carers can earn around £2,000 a year more without affecting their entitlement. We have heard the calls for a national carers strategy and will continue to work collaboratively across government to ensure that unpaid carers are visible, valued and supported.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply, particularly on cross-governmental working, because I think that is one of the most important aspects. The Labour Government’s first national carers strategy was launched in 1999 by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The second strategy in 2008 had the support of Gordon Brown and seven Secretaries of State, because evidence from unpaid carers had shown that support for carers could not be solved by one government department but needed work across several. Sadly, Conservative Governments after 2015 did not continue with the national strategy, preferring a much less effective carers action plan. Carers are partners in care, so will my noble friend the Minister consider the strength of feeling among carers and their support organisations that they need and deserve a high-level strategy across government departments to support them?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I certainly agree with the emphasis that my noble friend is putting on the need for cross-government working. I know she has been a champion of that for many years in the other place and that she will continue in your Lordships’ House to ensure that unpaid carers are properly supported and recognised. I can tell my noble friend that Minister Kinnock, as the lead Minister for unpaid carers, regularly engages with those with lived experience, the organisations that represent them and—importantly to the point my noble friend is making—with Ministers from other government departments, most recently the Department for Work and Pensions. We will be formalising our cross-government working with relevant departments and NHS England.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, if the Government are going to achieve their ambition to delay admissions to hospital and get people out of hospital more quickly, does the Minister agree that we have got to have proper support for carers? In particular, we should enable them to feel valued for what they are doing on behalf of their family and society as a whole.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I agree with the comments and observations of the noble Lord. I would like to put on record, as I know many Members of your Lordships’ House would want to do, my thanks for and acknowledgement of the role that unpaid, as well as paid, carers play. They are the difference between quality care and less than optimal care. Their support is greatly valued, so I thank the noble Lord for making that point.

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chief executive of Cerebral Palsy Scotland. Disabled adults of working age tell me that one of the reasons they have to fall back on family and unpaid carers is the dire shortage of availability of good PAs to help them work and live. Can the Minister confirm that the national carers strategy will look at access to PAs for working-age adults?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I do have to say to the noble Baroness that I have not committed to a national carers strategy. However, in our joined-up approach, we will certainly be looking at what is needed. That will be very much part of our considerations on the workforce strategy, which Minister Karin Smyth will be leading on. It is crucial to the delivery of services.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, would my noble friend agree that one of the major problems suffered by carers is recognition, not just by other people but by themselves? They say, “I am a wife”, “I am a husband”, “I am a mother”, “I am a daughter” or “I am a son”, not “I am a carer”. Therefore, a very high-profile national strategy led from the very top—previously, two Prime Ministers took this on board—would be extremely useful in helping carers recognise themselves and therefore putting them in touch with services that could support them.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend, who is a very impressive campaigner on the rights of carers, is right to talk about recognition. Of course, if one does not understand that one is a carer, it is hard to access support. I certainly agree on that point. There is guidance, for example, to support GPs in recording which of their patients are unpaid carers, to ensure that they get access to the support they need. Importantly—this has been raised a number of times in this House—in respect of young carers, there is guidance for GPs and it has recently been added to the school census, so young carers can be identified in order that there can be an assessment of needs. So it is true that we need to identify in order to support. Part of that is people recognising themselves as carers.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I also pay tribute to the work of the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. I learned much from her when I was the Minister. The Minister may recall that, in April 2023, the previous Government set out the better care fund framework. This included £100 million to accelerate digitisation in the social care sector. This would enable the Government and NHS England to collect valuable data about the state of social care and identify gaps if the Government decide to deliver a national strategy. What plans do the Government have to continue and expand this vital process of digitisation across the care sector, hopefully in delivering a national strategy?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

It is indeed the case that using technology and digital advance is key in all the areas where we are working, and the noble Lord will know that in the 10-year plan one of the three pillars will be, for example, going from analogue to digital. On that point, plans for going forward in dealing with social care, which is much needed in this country, will be set out in due course. I assure your Lordships’ House that it will be done through a cross-party approach, involving those with lived experience and the many voices and organisations that are part of the social care sector. We are keen that it is something that we can all get behind.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

As the Minister has said, the carer’s allowance was increased in the Budget by what can only be described as a modest amount, but it remains at one of the lowest levels for any benefit in the UK today. No help has been given to any carer who inadvertently overclaimed, even by £1. If the Government chose, they could stop collecting the overpayments while the independent review that they have commissioned takes place. Carers saddled with returning this money are struggling and suffering now. Why cannot the Government give them a break?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I understand the point that the noble Baroness is making. Certainly we recognise that overpayments have caused people great anxiety. That is why it is important to review the circumstances independently, so we can find out exactly what went wrong and make things right, so it does not happen again. The main message I would give is to urge anyone in receipt of carer’s allowance to inform the DWP of any change in their circumstances in respect of the earnings limit, so that overpayments can be avoided. But we are seeking to work constructively to ensure that this is not an ongoing problem.

[Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Lab)]

My Lords, a key element of any carer’s strategy, or non-strategy, must be to make it easier for carers to combine caring with paid work. As well as long-overdue reform of carer’s allowance, there is wide agreement that carer’s leave needs to be paid if it is to be effective. Will the Government therefore consider introducing it, at least in principle, as part of the Employment Rights Bill, rather than leaving it to a review?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The Government are committed to reviewing the implementation of carer’s leave—and also examining the benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave. As my noble friend said, the Employment Rights Bill includes provisions that will support all employees to support a better work/life balance by making flexible working the default, unless it is not reasonably feasible. That gives us an opportunity to make a particular difference for those combining work with unpaid care. Certainly, we are looking at the benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave, and I look forward to updating your Lordships’ House.