CARERS Trust’s new research with Public First, ‘Caring in 2035’, shows the stark reality unpaid carers across the country are facing in the coming decades without meaningful reform.
We are calling for action now. This means well-funded local support that reaches carers before crisis point, real financial and wellbeing support, and a care system that recognises carers as essential and equal.
The future of care is something we all have a stake in.
Kirsty McHugh, Chief Executive of Carers Trust, said: “Almost all of us will either care for a loved one or be cared for in turn at some point in our lives.
“However, as a society, we’re simply not facing up to that fact. The gap between soaring demand and shrinking supply of care is opening up like a crocodile’s jaws and, unless we act now, it’s unpaid carers, those they care for, and the system itself that will be swallowed whole.
“This grim future is on the horizon, but there is still time to avoid it if we are willing to do the political hard yards now. The Prime Minister’s commitment to fixing our broken social care system is encouraging, but reform needs to focus on more than care home beds, budgets, and the paid workforce. It has to reckon frankly and fairly with the millions of unpaid carers that are holding the system together – at huge personal cost.
“It could be you, your mother, brother, or child who needs care in the future, or who becomes a carer in turn. We cannot go on asking unpaid carers to absorb yet more pressure, and we cannot let the worst-case scenario set out in this research become our reality.
“We need well-funded local support that reaches carers before they hit crisis point, real, comprehensive financial and wellbeing support, and a system that recognises carers as essential and equal, not invisible and expendable.”
Read more about Caring in 2035: https://bit.ly/4rLxP9F
Source: Policy and research consultancy Public First
