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The Carer Poverty Coalition, formed in February 2023, is made up of 100 national and local organisations.

 

Collectively, we will be campaigning to:

  • End poverty amongst carers by advocating for policy change that adequately values, recognises and supports unpaid carers
  • Reform the benefits system to better support carers financially in the short and long term
  • Bring in better systems to support carers to continue with paid work
  • Build awareness of carer poverty and the impact of the cost of living crisis on unpaid carers with Government, parliamentarians, decision makers and the general public

 

Every day across the UK, the work of unpaid carers helps hold society together – an invisible network of support, empathy and care for those who need it most.

However, providing care to family and friends limits their ability to earn a full income adds extra costs that they would not otherwise have. Too often, due to a lack of recognition and support, unpaid carers end up falling into poverty or find themselves in precarious financial positions as a result of their caring role. This is particularly true of carers who care for more than 35 hours a week and those who provide unpaid care over longer periods of time. Financial difficulties also have a significant impact on carers’ physical and mental health and often increase their own need for treatment, support and services in order to cope.

There is a clear moral as well as economic argument for supporting unpaid carers to live on a decent level of income and for supporting those able to continue with paid work whilst caring. Better support for carers to stay in work has clear benefits to the wider economy by improving productivity and reducing unemployment. The value of unpaid care was estimated at £530 million per day and £193 billion per year during the pandemic.[1]

This is a huge contribution to the NHS, social care and to society as a whole. Unpaid carers also provide a vital human connection as well as physical and emotional nourishment needed for our older people to thrive and enable people with disabilities and long-term illnesses to lead dignified, independent lives.

 

[1] Carers UK, Unseen and Undervalued, 2020

Member organisations

Carers UK MS Society
Age UK Oxfam GB
Carers Trust Rethink Mental Illness
Joseph Rowntree Foundation We Care Campaign
Motor Neurone Disease Association  

 

Access Social Care GCMHG - Seacole House
Action for Carers Surrey Greenwich Carers Centre
Action for Family Carers Hartlepool Carers
Adult Social Care Warriors Help & Care
Age Scotland Hospice UK
Barnet Carers Centre Independent Age
Be Free Young Carers Independent Food Aid Network
Bliss Kingston Carers' Network
Brainwave Leeds City Council
Care4CarersClub The Leonardo Trust
Carers First Lewy Body Society
Carers in Hertfordshire London Unemployed Strategies
Carers' Hub Lambeth  Marie Curie
Carers Leeds Multiple System Atrophy Trust
Carers Lewisham n-compass North West Ltd
Carers Network Westminster Neath Port Talbot Council
Carers Northern Ireland Newcastle Carers
Carers of Barking and Dagenham North Lanarkshire Carers Together
Carers of West Lothian North Tyneside Carers Centre
Carers Oxfordshire Parkinson's UK
Carers Plus Yorkshire Ltd Princess Royal Trust For Carers in Hampshire
Carers' Resource Promas Caring for People CIC
Carers Scotland Reading Welfare Rights
Carers Support Centre - Bristol and South Gloucestershire Rett UK
Carers' Support East Kent Richmond Carers Centre
Carers Support Merton Sandwell Young Carers Project
Carers Support West Sussex Sense
Carers Trust Crossroads West Wales Sheffield Carers Centre
Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire Shine Charity
Carers Voice Norfolk and Waveney South Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership
Carers Wakefield & District Spinal Injuries Association
Carers Wales Subco Trust
Caring for Carers Suffolk Family Carers
Caring Together Swindon Carers Centre 
City Health Care Partnership CIC The Anthony Seddon Centre  
Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance The Care Collective
Cloverleaf Advocacy The Carers Centre
CommuniCare The Relatives & Residents Association
Contact  TuVida
Enfield Carers Centre Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
Essex Carers Support Warwickshire Young Carers  
Falkirk District Association for Mental Health Women’s Budget Group
FamilyCarersNet Worcestershire Association of Carers
Family Rights Group York Carers Centre  
Forward Carers Young Lives vs Cancer
Furness Carers Z2K
Gaddum  

"[The] Spring Budget simply does not recognise or support the essential care that unpaid carers provide on a daily basis."

Helen Walker, Chief Executive Carers UK

 

 

To find out more about the coalition or to join, please get in touch with John Perryman:

Latest updates

Press Release
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Majority of unpaid carers worry about whether their loved ones are getting good nutrition and hydration

Carers UK is releasing research which uncovers a lack of confidence in how to address malnutrition and under-nutrition amongst unpaid…

Press Release
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Carers UK responds to the Chancellor’s Spring Budget

Today’s Spring Budget was unveiled by The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP. Carers UK is disappointed…

Press Release
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Carer Poverty Coalition responds to the Chancellor's Spring Budget

On behalf of the Carer Poverty Coalition, Emily Holzhausen OBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK, said:

Press Release
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Carers UK responds to 2022 NHS Staff Survey results

Responding to the results of the 2022 NHS Staff Survey, Helen Walker Chief Executive of Carers UK said

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