Recommendation 29

Our broken care system is held up by unpaid carers doing vital work out of love and pride. The cost to them can be financial, physical, and emotional. The cost to our economy of carers leaving the workforce is over £3 billion each year—money that could be invested in adult social care. We recognise that some of the proposals in the White Paper will benefit carers, such as around technology and innovation. However, we think that £25 million over three years is a totally inadequate amount to allocate to initiatives to support carers, whose contribution to the UK economy is estimated by Carers UK at £132 billion a year. £25 million will do little to assure carers that their contribution is valued by the Government.