Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve support for family carers in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support they need. Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires them to provide a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers.

On the 7 of 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 the Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976.

Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service highlighted the need for a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers, to improve outcomes across the board, for carers, for those they care for, and the NHS itself.

These findings will be carefully considered as part of our 10-year plan to reform and modernise the NHS, and as we continue to shape our plans to reform adult social care, including through the National Care Service.

We have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.

The commission will start a national conversation about what care and support working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support.