Being an unpaid carer is even tougher, and if you ask most unpaid carers why they do it, they’ll say that anyone would do the same for their loved ones.

Across the UK more than 4.3 million people take on the role of unpaid carer every year and research from Sheffield Hallam University shows that approximately 12,000 people become unpaid carers each day.

I’ve been contacted by a lady who’s shocked at lack of support she’ll received as an unpaid carer. She was a children’s nurse for 36 years but retired to care for her sister & mother. She started work as a carer before the pandemic, but was also caring for her father, who was suffering from dementia. Towards the end of 2022, things were getting too much, she was struggling to care for her father, her own family & working full time, so she gave up work.

She’s entitled to £67 a week in carer allowance and she’s still waiting to be assessed for any Universal Credit payments. She now fears that because she has caring responsibilities for her father, with rising energy and food bills and the cost-of-living crisis hitting so many, she won’t have the income to pay her bills and is in danger of losing her home.

Unpaid carers are the unsung heroes of our country, and anyone can find themselves in a position where they suddenly have caring responsibilities. The social care sector has been shrinking for years as budgets have been reducing as successive Tory government have failed to invest in this vital service.

As a country we are more and more reliant on the generosity of unpaid carers. It urgently needs reform. As a start, a Labour government will empower people to live independently for as long as possible, while giving care users and their families greater say and control.

We will prioritise a care system that puts ‘home first’ by shifting support towards prevention and early help.