Carers NI have responded to the consultation on the draft Programme for Government 2024 – 2027. We welcome the publication of a Programme for Government and long-term strategic planning. However, we are disappointed that unpaid carers are not mentioned at all in the plan and their priorities are not clearly addressed.

Tackling poverty, a commitment to funding and urgent action to reform the social care system, including support for unpaid carers, and delivery of improved employment rights legislation for carers within this mandate are priority areas for unpaid carers. In addition, we feel that unpaid carers have specific challenges and needs and should be included as a standalone category in the wellbeing dashboard, rather than amalgamated into the broader category of “those with dependents”. Carers NI would also value clarity around the actions that are built into the plan and ask what assessment/tracker tools will be used to measure success. For many areas we feel improved matrices need developed which better reflect the priorities the plan is trying to tackle rather than just measuring what is readily available.