The ME Association is an official sponsor of Carers Week (10 – 16 June 2024). We want to draw attention to the major contribution that unpaid carers make to people affected by ME/CFS and Long Covid. Because of the general election several parliamentary events have had to be cancelled but local events will continue and others will be rescheduled after the election takes place. In the meantime, Carers UK has initiated an open letter to the new Prime Minister that we hope you will support.
Letter Extracts:
Across the UK, 5.7 million people provide unpaid care for a family member, friend, or neighbour who is affected by long-term illness, disability, or old age. Thousands of us take on new caring responsibilities every day – it can happen unexpectedly, or gradually, but almost all of us will experience care at some point in our lives.
Over the last 10 years, the amount of unpaid care being provided has increased significantly, with over one and a half million people in England and Wales now caring for over 50 hours every week. As a result, the value of unpaid carers’ support is now worth a staggering £162 billion a year – equivalent to spending on the NHS – without which our health and care systems would simply collapse.
We urge you to act decisively to provide the structures, mechanisms and legislative basis for real and lasting change to improve unpaid carers’ lives.
Below are our priorities for the coming Parliament – together, they provide a blueprint for your government to take significant steps over the next five years towards the UK being a society that recognises, values and supports unpaid carers:
- Reform and significantly increase Carer’s Allowance and other social security payments for carers.
- Deliver an ambitious and fully funded National Carers Strategy.
- Invest in breaks, respite services, and introduce new legislation so all carers have the right to regular and meaningful breaks.
- Make the NHS the most carer-friendly health service in the world.
- Introduce a right to paid Carer’s Leave for working carers.
- Recognise caring as the 10th protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
- Invest in social care services so no one has to care alone, and so Local Authorities are able to meet their existing duties to unpaid carers.
- Provide more support to help carers manage their health and wellbeing.
Without a step change in the support we receive, even more of us will reach breaking point, with huge implications for ourselves as unpaid carers, the people we care for, the NHS, social care and society as a whole.
There is no time to waste.
More information
- Carers Week 2024: Putting Carers on the Map.
- Carers UK: General Election 2024: A Manifesto for Unpaid Carers.