Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Acknowledged
Unpaid carers face significant personal and financial costs due to social care reform failures.
Conclusion
Unpaid carers are bearing the highest cost from successive governments’ failures to reform adult social care. They provide care worth £184 billion, “equivalent to a second NHS”, but this is often unrecognised and comes at great personal, emotional and financial cost as well as a cost to their own health. Carers can’t do the vital work they do to support the formal system if nobody is caring for them, and the moral and financial case for doing so is clear. We were not able to find official estimates of the cost to the Exchequer of the failure to properly support unpaid carers’ employment opportunities. However, given that one study placed it at £1 billion in 2012 the potential return on investment for supporting unpaid carers could be substantial. (Conclusion, Paragraph 47)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees that publishing cost estimates of delayed discharges would improve transparency and will explore how best to publish this data, acknowledging methodological challenges.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
As above, the commission will start a national conversation about what care and support working-age disabled adults, older people and their families should expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support. However, the government recognises the immense contribution of carers and young carers and is acting now to improve support for families. From April 2025, the government increased the Carer’s Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196 - the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage. This represents the largest increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001. We also recognise that many unpaid carers can face challenges balancing employment with caring. The government is reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.
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