UK Poverty Post

Recognise and reward those who care

Carers’ Week, 14^th – 25^th June

Coinciding with Refugee Week, this week is also Carers’ Week, a chance to recognise the enormous contribution to society made by the six million unpaid carers in the UK, as well as to highlight the difficulties faced by those who are often forced to give up work or a social life in order to look after a friend or relative – as recently covered by Oxfam’s paper Something for Nothing.

According to Carers UK more than half of those who care have given up work to do so, while a carer who manages to combine caring with paid employment is likely to get a job that pays less. Almost three quarters of carers say that their caring responsibilities affect how much they could earn; just under half have no savings, and a third took on debt as a result of caring.

Isabel's final routine includes giving Jordan a wash and reapplying his skin creams before he goes to bed.

While caring reduces an individual’s immediate and future employment prospects and earning capacity, the support that carers give to society is enormous, saving the state an estimated £87 billion each year. Carers can claim for an income replacement benefit called the Carers’ Allowance, but this is paid at level of just £53.10 per week. For those who care for the minimum of 35 hours per week this amounts to a shockingly low wage of £1.52 per hour.

Not only is this sum laughable, but eligibility conditions are tough, with a requirement to care for over 35 hours a week, not to be in full time education, and to earn £95 a week or less. As a result, only just under a seventh (883,000) of Britain’s carers qualify for the Allowance.

The high cost of professional care means people on low incomes have no choice but to care. However, not only do people care because they are poor – many also stay poor because they care. As things stand, our welfare system just doesn’t acknowledge the economic value and personal cost of the unpaid caring that is currently undertaken by millions of people on low incomes. Not only does Carers’ Week provide an important opportunity to recognise the vital contribution made by unpaid carers to society but it also a valuable moment to call for this civic service to be properly rewarded and supported.

For an insight into life as a carer see the BBC website for Nick Danziger’s collection of photos for Oxfam. Isabel is a volunteer at the Oxfam-supported Clydebank Independent Resource Centre in Glasgow and full time carer for her disabled son.