Carers and Poverty: Carers UK Report

Baroness Pitkeathley Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government how they plan to respond to the Carers UK report Poverty and financial hardship of unpaid carers in the UK, published on 12 September, and in particular its findings that 1.2 million carers live in poverty and that the poverty rate for unpaid carers is 50 per cent higher than for those who do not provide care.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

I beg leave to ask the Question in my name on the Order Paper and remind your Lordships that today is Carers Rights Day.

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

My Lords, from these Benches I pay tribute to the memory of our dear and noble friend Lord Prescott.

I thank Carers UK for its report, which, importantly, as my noble friend said, is raised on Carers Rights Day. We will take the findings into account as we continue to support unpaid carers, whose major contribution I pay tribute to. We have announced an increase to the carer’s allowance earnings limit. Carers can earn around an additional £2,000 per year. This is the biggest uplift since the allowance was introduced in 1976. Furthermore, we will review the implementation of carers’ leave.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, I readily acknowledge the welcome concessions by the Chancellor in the Budget and thank my noble friend for her response. There is never any difficulty in getting recognition for our moral obligation to carers, but figures published this morning by Carers UK remind us of their contribution to the economy. They show that the value of their support is worth £184 billion per year in the UK—directly comparable to the spending on the NHS in the four nations, which is £189 billion. I hope my noble friend understands that it is against this background of their huge economic contribution that we ask for entitlements for carers and for recognition of their rights to lead an ordinary life, to combine paid work with caring, and to not to be condemned to a life of poverty because of their caring responsibilities.