Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, England, 2023-24, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the decrease of 6.1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24 in local authority expenditure on support for unpaid carers.

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support they need. Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers.

To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.

The Government recognises the challenges facing the adult social care system. That is why the Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.

The commission will start a national conversation about what working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support.

We have already taken steps to support unpaid carers. From April 2025 we are increasing the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196. This means carers can earn up to £10,000 a year whilst still retaining Carer's Allowance, which is approximately an additional £2,000 a year.