Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the rates of mental ill health among male carers.

The Government recognises the vital role of unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they receive the support they need. Through measures set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are supporting carers by making them more visible, empowering their voices in care planning, joining up services, and streamlining caring tasks through a new ‘MyCarer’ section in the NHS App. We are also expanding access to mental health care through 24/7 neighbourhood services, new emergency mental health departments, and enhanced support via the NHS App, all of which will be available to carers experiencing mental ill health.

Local authorities have duties under the Care Act 2014 to support unpaid carers. To help them fulfil these duties, the 2025 Spending Review provides for an increase of over £4 billion in funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.

On 19 November, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.

As Minister of State for Care, I also chair a regular cross-Government meeting with ministers across departments to consider how we can work together to provide unpaid carers with the recognition and support they deserve.

The Department has no current plans to introduce a multi-year funding scheme for support groups specifically for male carers, but we will continue working across government and with local authorities to ensure that unpaid carers of all genders are able to access appropriate support.