Unpaid Carers

Anna Dixon Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the register of all-party parliamentary groups as chair of the APPG on carers. I add my thanks to the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett). I commend her for securing this debate and for her work on this issue on behalf of her party.

For nearly 6 million unpaid family carers across the UK, and over 8,000 across my constituency, caring is an act of love. Whether they are caring for a severely disabled child, a partner who has dementia or a parent who is at the end of their life, their everyday help demonstrates a deep love, whether by helping them to wash, dress, eat, get off to school or work, or providing emotional support through periods of pain, loneliness, fear and frustration. That is when we see human relationships at their best, yet for too many, that act of love can quickly turn into an act of sacrifice that involves giving up work, putting their own life on hold, ignoring their own health and well-being, or experiencing stress and financial hardship. Those are just some of the ways in which carers are impacted.

Unpaid carers give so much, but often get too little. I have seen at first hand the difference that unpaid carers make to the lives of the people they care for. I grew up with my disabled grandma Frieda, who suffered life-changing injuries in a road collision. The decades of support that my mum gave her enabled her to live semi-independently—to go out to church, connect with her friends and live a full life—but I saw the impact on my mum. She gave up her own career as a doctor and carried additional worry and responsibilities, including having to make sure that care was in place for my grandma every time we went on a family holiday.

I have dedicated my career to securing better care and support for older and disabled people and their carers, and I am pleased to have carried that on in Parliament through the APPG. I am grateful to Carers UK for all the support the organisation gives and for enabling us in Parliament to hear carers’ powerful stories. I also commend colleagues, including my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth), for sharing their personal stories of juggling care and this job, which is not easy. Around two thirds of people will provide unpaid care during their adult life. It is a huge issue, and I am delighted to see that it is finally getting the attention it deserves from this Labour Government.

What support do carers need, what are they getting, and what more do they need? As others have said, they need support financially to stay in work and to find work, and when they take on a substantial amount of care, they need direct financial support. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) said, unfortunately, carers’ allowance is just not high enough. According to Carers UK, 1,500 people leave employment every day to take up caring responsibilities.

I was pleased to meet the Minister for the Future of Work, my neighbouring MP, earlier this week to discuss the recently closed consultation. In that meeting, I underlined the importance of introducing statutory paid carers leave, extending unpaid carers leave to enable people to take longer breaks and return to their job, strengthening flexible working and improving employer practices. I hope that the Minister present will urge his colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to go far on the response to that consultation.

Much has been done to reform carers’ allowance. I am hopeful that the Government will bring in a taper system to replace the current cliff edge. I add my request to the one made by the hon. Member for Mid Sussex that Ministers call in DWP officials to ask exactly what progress they are making on assessing cases. At the rate they are going, it will take 40 years to complete the process. That is simply not good enough when carers are being worried by debts and civil penalties.

Secondly, we need to support carers’ own health and wellbeing. About a quarter of unpaid carers in my constituency describe their health as not good. They have no time for themselves, no time to attend routine check-ups and no time to take a break. Short breaks, respite care and sitting services are vital, such as those provided by the excellent charity Carers’ Resource in Bradford and the innovative Shared Lives respite model provided by Bradford council. I also welcome the Government carers action plan, and I hope the Minister will outline what the NHS is doing.

Finally, I commend the Government for bringing in a national care service. I will do everything I can to make sure that carers’ voices are heard in shaping it for the future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell) (LD)]

It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for securing this important and timely debate.

Unpaid carers are the unsung heroes of England’s health and social care system. Without their dedication and sacrifice, the whole health and social care system would have collapsed by now.

There are so many different types of unpaid carers. Unpaid carers are young or old, working full time or part time, in school or further education, unemployed or retired. However, all unpaid carers are bound by their dedication to looking after a parent, a child, a sibling or a partner or loved one. They are also tragically united by many worries: how long they, their health and bank accounts can keep going, and how they will overcome all the barriers, unnecessary hurdles and lack of Government support.

Let us talk about the Williams family. It is made up of Sarah, David and their two young children. They are no exception to all of this. David, through no fault of his own, develops a serious health condition that leaves him needing substantial daily care. Sarah becomes his unpaid carer, because the family, like so many, cannot afford expensive professional care. To do so, Sarah reduces her working hours to manage David’s personal care, appointments, medication and domestic needs. She helps him to get out of bed, changes his clothes, helps him to shower, administers his medication, drives him to appointments, does the school run, cooks dinner, cleans the house, pays the bills, and looks after their children.

As a result, the household income falls while expenses continue to rise. Over time, the situation begins to affect the whole family. Sarah is exhausted and stressed, and her own health begins to suffer. She is increasingly isolated, with little opportunity for respite or socialisation because of the all-encompassing nature of her responsibilities. She struggles to spend quality time with her children and misses important school and extracurricular events. The children also take on additional responsibilities at home, including helping their mother to care for their father. They are forced to grow up quickly, with less time for their homework, activities and friends.

Financial pressures create further problems. The family falls behind on bills and they have to use their savings to cover everyday expenses, but eventually their savings run out. The family are then forced to move to cheaper accommodation, which is cramped and not fit for David’s care needs. As time passes, Sarah’s employment prospects deteriorate because of the time she has spent outside of work caring for David. She has lost opportunities for promotion, built up less pension entitlement and now has very limited financial means. David feels guilty that his illness is placing such a burden on his family, while Sarah is exhausted, stressed and feeling trapped between needing to work to earn an income, caring for David and supporting their children.

The Williams family might be hypothetical, but their experiences are far from uncommon. According to the 2021 census, there are 5.8 million Sarahs in the UK, providing unpaid care.

[Anna Dixon]

Obviously, most unpaid carers are women and the sacrifice they make not only affects them in the short term but feeds into their poverty in later life through the gender pension gap. Does the hon. Member recognise that?

[Helen Maguire]

Absolutely. I referred to that, and the care also affects their career prospects.

The care that unpaid carers provide is worth an estimated £152 billion annually, which is equivalent to the annual NHS budget. The 2021 census also found that in England and Wales, women are more likely to provide unpaid care than men, with women accounting for 59% of unpaid carers.

The number of unpaid carers has risen by 70% in the past two decades, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research, and 1.7 million of the 5.8 million unpaid carers provide 50 or more hours of care every single week. In England and Wales, women aged between 75 and 79 are most likely to provide 50 or more hours of care a week, while among men it is those aged between 85 and 89.

The sacrifice to step up and work as an unpaid carer is not without significant impact. Evidence consistently shows that unpaid carers experience worse health outcomes than non-carers. The 2021 census in England and Wales found that around one in four carers reported “not good” health, compared with fewer than one in five non-carers. The GP patient survey in 2025 found that 72% of carers said they had a physical or mental health condition or illness. An academic study that analysed the GP patient survey data found that for those providing care for 50 or more hours a week, the health impact of being a carer is equivalent to their losing 18 days of full health each year.

The economic and employment prospects of unpaid carers are also heavily impacted. Census data shows that nearly 3 million people in the UK balance unpaid care with paid employment. Polling by Carers UK suggests that the number could actually be much higher, with one in five workers, or 6.7 million people, providing unpaid care. In addition, 69% of carers who are employees report not having focused on their career as much as they would have liked to, 61% said that caring has impacted the type of employment they have taken on and 21% said that they had taken on a lower paid or more junior role that better fitted with their caring responsibilities.

This polling also found that in the past two years 1.1 million people have left employment to provide care. That is equivalent to around 1,500 people leaving the workforce every single day, which is an increase of 150% compared with polling in 2019 that showed the figure was 600 a day.