Unpaid Carers: Inequalities

Alison Hume Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing this timely debate, and for all her work to raise awareness of unpaid carers. It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is an unstinting advocate for his constituents.

Last night, I was honoured to sponsor a reception for Carers UK, which is celebrating an incredible 60 years championing unpaid carers. Like so many carers, I did not realise I was a parent carer until someone told me I was and suggested that I get a carer’s assessment. We assume that just because we are looking after a disabled child, caring comes with the package. That assumption can lead us into dark corners. Despite the statutory obligations on local authorities in respect of parent carers, councils are not required to report on how they are meeting such duties, and support for parent carers is not included in the Ofsted inspection framework for children’s services. Many marriages or partnerships break down under the strain of caring for a disabled child or children, and mine, sadly, was one of the statistics.

University of Birmingham research found that more than 40% of parent carers of disabled children have thought about suicide because of their caring role, and one in 12 have a plan for how to take their life. For fathers of a disabled child or children, becoming a parent carer can be incredibly isolating. Men can be less likely to seek help and more likely to suffer in silence. Combined with a higher propensity to smoke, drink, gamble and use drugs, that means that the health of male carers really suffers, and that has a significant impact on families, workplaces and communities.

A contributing factor to the inequality faced by unpaid carers is that 63% who are struggling financially have not accessed any financial guidance or resources in the past year. Improving access to financial guidance and simplifying benefit information on carers’ entitlements would really help.

The inspirational founder of Dads Behaving Madly, Graham Porter, told me that he started the support group in Scarborough as a safe space for dads with disabled kids, as there was a massive gap in support for men like him. What started with just Graham and a mate has grown to 70 members across the Yorkshire coast. The dads meet to have curries or breakfast; to go surfing or cold-water swimming; to do a bit of yoga; to watch Scarborough Athletic play; and to connect, support, laugh, cry and, with all that cold water swimming, shiver together. Graham says that when they are supporting dads and male carers, including non-binary dads, they are not just helping one person but strengthening entire families and communities. One member of the group told me:

“It’s not the big sweeping gestures, it’s the small simple things that keep you going and create a real friendship within the group. I think that’s what I’d been missing most as it’s very difficult to talk to other dads about SEN or children with additional needs, when either their children don’t have them or the dads have no interest in it.”

The Labour Government have just unveiled England’s first ever men’s health strategy, which aims to tackle the crisis in men’s mental health. Will the Minister comment on whether the Government have an ambition to develop a new carer’s strategy that improves not only the financial wellbeing and security of unpaid carers but their mental health? Will he join me in thanking Dads Behaving Madly, as well as mums, grandparents, siblings and all the other 5.8 million unpaid carers behaving variously across the UK, for their amazing contribution to our families, communities and country?