Unpaid Carers: Inequalities

Richard Foord Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that around 130,000 people in Devon provide unpaid care. That is roughly one in six Devon residents. To understand what that means in real life, I want to share the story of Emma Donovan from Sidmouth. Emma cares for both her parents: her mum who lives with Parkinson’s and dementia, and her father who is a veteran whose injuries have worsened with age. At the same time, she runs a non-profit, she works two part-time jobs, she volunteers as a Rotarian and she still tries to live a life of her own.

Through her start-up, In a Pickle Services, Emma provides hygiene and wellness packs to people experiencing homelessness, but because statutory support has fallen away, her organisation is having to restart an unpaid carers’ support group, inspired by the excellent Honiton Carers Support Group. The new group in Sidmouth will launch in January and will help unpaid carers to manage the day-to-day reality of caring. The average age of Sidmouth residents is 59, which means that it has one of the highest proportions of carers of anywhere in the country. Emma’s experience mirrors that of countless carers across Sidmouth, Seaton, Axminster and Cullompton: constant pressure, limited respite and a system that too often leaves people to cope on their own.

A recent report by Healthwatch in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay found that a third of unpaid carers provide more than 20 hours of care a week. That is sustainable only with proper support. The report highlighted poor communication, long waits for help and carers not being identified early enough. Many carers said that their mental and physical health is deteriorating because caring leaves them no time. Even when people do apply for help, carer’s allowance is paid only to those who prove that they provide at least 35 hours of care a week, and because it is an allowance and not a wage, it does not increase should the carer do more hours in a week than the minimum 35, which leaves some effectively receiving less than £2 an hour.

The Carer’s Leave Act 2023, introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain), was a major step forward, giving working carers up to five days of unpaid leave per year. But that is still not enough. We Liberal Democrats are calling for paid carer’s leave and guaranteed respite, so that people are not forced to choose between their jobs and those they love. Our wider package of reforms would raise carer’s allowance by £20 a week and widen eligibility, recognising that too many carers miss out.

People like Emma give so much to their families, their communities and to our country. They should not be left to struggle on their own. I thank the hon. Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing both this debate and the presence of the Minister. We look forward to hearing from him the latest on the Government’s plans to support carers.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing this vital debate. I pay tribute to her for her career-long dedication to adult social care and so many of the issues we are debating today. I also pay tribute to all the powerful and moving contributions we have heard today, many about personal experience, engagement with constituents and the stories we hear every day about the pivotal role that unpaid carers play in our care system, which are truly inspiring and uplifting.

Every day, unpaid carers step up to sustain the health and wellbeing of millions of people across our country. Every day, they step up quietly and without expectation to support loved ones, neighbours and friends. I offer my heartfelt thanks, particularly on Carers Rights Day: thank you for the compassion, the commitment and the resilience you show.

As Minister for Care, it has been my priority to listen directly to unpaid carers through discussions with carers of all ages, including during Carers Week. I have heard at first hand the realities of balancing care, work, education and personal wellbeing. Those conversations have been moving, honest and often humbling. They have reinforced just how essential it is that we continue to recognise and support the people who provide so much care to so many, and who hold so much of our health and care system together.

As I said at the Carers UK “State of Caring” conference earlier this year, we have made genuine progress over the last three decades. The profile of the role of unpaid carers has undoubtedly grown, and awareness of their contribution is undoubtedly greater. Despite that, true equality of opportunity remains out of reach for far too many. My ambition is clear: that carers who want to work can do so without being penalised; that young carers can learn, develop and dream, just like their peers; and that caring must not lead to long-term damage to a person’s health, wealth or wellbeing.

The data shows the scale of the challenge: unpaid carers are 16% more likely to have multiple long-term health conditions, and providing just 10 hours of care a week can significantly reduce someone’s likelihood of being employed and increase their risk of loneliness. These pressures compound existing inequalities linked to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or age. We must continue to shine a light on these disparities, listen to carers’ voices and design support that genuinely helps them to thrive.

The Government remain committed to ensuring that unpaid carers receive the right support at the right time in the right way. Under our 10-year health plan, unpaid carers will be recognised as partners in preparing personalised care and support plans. Their practical knowledge and experience will help to shape more responsive and realistic plans for the people they support.

Early identification remains key. Too many carers still go unnoticed and unsupported. We will increase the information captured across the health and care system, enabling earlier intervention and more tailored help. We will also introduce a dedicated “My Carer” section in the NHS app, which will allow carers to book appointments, access information and communicate more effectively with clinical teams. That will not only support carers but streamline interactions across the system.

Our shift towards a neighbourhood health service will increase the integration of health and care services, and it will bring multidisciplinary teams—GPs, nurses, social care professionals, pharmacists and others—closer to people’s homes. Working alongside unpaid carers, these teams will be better placed to deliver joined-up, community-centred support, focused on the health and care that people really need.

We know that caring can have a profound impact on mental health. That is why we are expanding access to talking therapies and digital tools, and piloting neighbourhood mental health centres, offering round-the-clock support for people with more severe needs.

[Richard Foord]

Can I ask the Minister what definition of neighbourhood he is using, and does it recognise communities such as market towns?

[Stephen Kinnock]

As a ballpark figure, we are looking at 50,000 residents, but we will be open to developing multi-neighbourhood infrastructure that would cover closer to something like 250,000 residents. It will depend, to some extent, on how it works in the 43 pilot sites in our neighbourhood health implementation plan. We do not want to have too many top-down diktats like the disastrous 2012 Lansley reforms; this is much more about a bottom-up, organic approach to developing a neighbourhood health service. Approximately 50,000 residents will be the starting point.