Carer’s Allowance

Debate between Victoria Collins and Catherine Fookes

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Collins (Harpenden and Berkhamsted) (LD)]

I congratulate the hon. Members for Clwyd North (Gill German) and for Weston-super-Mare (Dan Aldridge) on their maiden speeches.

Earlier this year I spoke to a family member whose mother was suffering with severe depression. Her mental health had started to plummet once she became a carer for her husband. He had fallen and been rushed to hospital, but he could not leave without a full-time carer in place. The only option for the family was to have his wife give up work and be there when he came home. The toll of that care as she became older and had to give up her job grew heavier.

I hear such heartbreaking stories of families caring for their loved ones again and again across Harpenden, Berkhamsted and Tring. Recent censuses have shown that there are thousands of unpaid carers, or family carers, across the constituency—and as has been mentioned today, those are the ones who have realised they are indeed carers.

[Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire) (Lab)]

There are 311,000 unpaid carers in Wales, many in my constituency of Monmouthshire. Carers Wales estimates they provide free care worth £10.6 billion to the Welsh economy each year. Will the hon. Lady join me in condemning the previous Government for not dealing with the issue of overpayment?

[Victoria Collins]

Absolutely; it is a real travesty. It has come up again and again in the House that we are letting down the people who are caring for our communities and the families in them, or indeed our own families. Facing the cost and complication of getting the support they need is often left to the families and unpaid carers who lovingly pick up the pieces.

On the hon. Lady’s point, our carers are the equivalent of a second NHS. Not only are they supporting their loved ones, but they are propping up our healthcare service. It is estimated they contribute a staggering £162 billion a year, compared with an estimated £164 billion in funding for the NHS. That is a shocking £445 million per day, in comparison with the previously mentioned £81.90 per week of carer’s allowance.

I have mentioned this before in the House, but I will mention it again. In the West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals NHS trust, in one month alone, we lost 843 bed days because of a backlog in social care. That has an impact on A&E waiting times, ambulance waiting times, waiting lists and, crucially, the people waiting in hospital and their families. People want to be back home. They do not want to be stuck in hospital because of a failing system, so taking care of care and our carers is not only the right thing to do, but it helps us all.

I support the motion, which calls for overpayments to be written off, for the carer’s allowance earnings limit to be raised, and for the introduction of a taper to end the unfair cliff edge. I welcome the review, and call on the Government to support carers to juggle work and care, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) highlighted, to bring carers into the review. We must ensure that all carers, of all ages, are given the care that they need. We must support those who support our loved ones, and who are supporting our NHS and every one of us in ways that we may never know.