Carers Action Plan

Debate between Baroness Tyler of Enfield and Baroness Hyde of Bemerton

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hyde of Bemerton (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a very important point. “Recognise”, “refer” and “reach” are the three orders of priority, and “recognise” is obviously the first piece of the puzzle. Whatever your age and life stage, you can be referred to the appropriate support; then, “reach” is about enabling people with unpaid caring responsibilities to reach their potential, whether they wish to be in work or in education—whatever is appropriate for that person. As my noble friend knows, when you become a carer the rest of your life does not just stop overnight; often, these things are incremental. For many, what begins as helping a loved one out is suddenly hours and hours a week of providing unpaid care.

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, the action plan contains a welcome commitment to exploring modernising the carer’s allowance, and it includes the possibility of replacing the earnings cliff edge with a taper. When will this work move beyond initial scoping, and when will we hear substantive proposals?

[Baroness Hyde of Bemerton (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her work in this area and for her question. As noble Lords will know, this Government have already increased the carer’s allowance and increased the amount of earnings allowance. We are working on this as a commitment; it is a priority for the Prime Minister to support unpaid carers. I will write to the noble Baroness with more information about a taper and a timeline.