Emily Holzhausen CBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Carers UK said:
"Carers UK set up the Carer Poverty Coalition in February 2023 to work towards ending poverty amongst carers by collectively seeking change that adequately values, recognises and supports unpaid carers, and we're proud that our membership is now in excess of 130 local and national organisations.
"It's extremely worrying that some measures within the Green Paper on Welfare Reform changing disability and health benefits will actively go against our objectives to end carer poverty, but instead look like they will deepen financial hardship. Some changes will be devastating to many carers and their families, in some cases leading to a double loss of income. Changes to eligibility criteria to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) mean that 150,000 unpaid carers are set to lose their carers’ benefits by 2029/30, leading to the biggest effective cut to financial support for carers of £500m.
“As many as 1.2 million unpaid carers are already living in poverty and 400,000 are living in deep poverty. We are concerned that the proposed welfare reforms are a backwards step which deliver a further blow to hard-pressed carers and their families.
“Over 600 people a day give up work to care. Many feel that they have no choice in this because they lack alternative care options. The loss of income they face is often devastating. Carers, through no fault of their own, find themselves in precarious financial positions with long-lasting consequences.
“If the Government wants to support people to stay in and return to paid work, they need to recognise the unique challenges that carers face and provide specific and targeted support for this group, recognising that good social care and provision of breaks is vital to enabling carers to combine paid work with their unpaid caring role.
“We’re asking the Government to reconsider their plans and to engage directly on the impact to family carers as part of its consultation process, coming up with credible options to support carers to live on an adequate income, whether they are able to combine paid work with unpaid care or not.”