A new report published by The Open University has highlighted how the weekly Carers Allowance of £76.75 is worth just 77p per hour to a carer looking after a loved one in Gateshead for up to 100 hours a week.
It reveals a list of recommendations for decision makers to ensure unpaid carers are not undervalued and overlooked.
Dr Dan Taylor, lecturer in social and political thought, and project lead of the report, conducted in association with project consultant Kitty McKay and the charity Gateshead Carers Association, said their analysis is based on in-depth research on the lived experiences of 15 unpaid Gateshead carers.
Their experiences have been immortalised in the film “Giving Care in Gateshead”, produced in association with the OU.
According to research from Carers UK and the University of Sheffield, cross-referenced against the 2021 Census, caregivers in Gateshead alone save the economy £76,000 per hour, and contribute a staggering £660 million annually through their hours of care.
And nationally, caregivers in England and Wales save the economy £162 billion annually, which is roughly equivalent to the yearly expenditure of NHS England and NHS Wales.
Dan said:
“If a carer looks after someone for 35-hours a week that’s 2.19p per hour but some are ineligible to receive this if they earn over £139 per week, including a state or private pension.
“We conducted this report to highlight the lived experiences of unpaid carers in Gateshead, that’s over 10 per cent of the people living in the area or just under 20,000 people out of a population of 196,200.”
Now the report has produced a number of recommendations in the hopes that decisionmakers will take note, they include:
- Overhaul of Carers Allowance to substantially increase it according to an agreed minimum income guarantee, plus an overhaul of eligibility
- Tailoring carer-specific support for cost-of-living pressures
- Increase funding for carers’ grants, wellbeing funds and respite care
- Develop a structured process for identifying and supporting carers at or before medical discharge
- Invite caregivers onto partnership boards and steering groups that regularly meet to guide, advise and consult on commissioning services for local health and social care
- Build on recent legislative achievements to give caregivers more legal rights, e.g. around employment and caregiving as many feel invisible
Jean, an unpaid carer in Gateshead, said:
“We’re not given enough recognition. We do this job, and because we don’t shout and make a fuss, then we’re just allowed to get on with it. I just think that carers in general are invisible at times, and it would be nice for the government to recognise us a bit more, and give us a bit more support.”
Dan said:
“A third of the carers we spoke to are in significant financial distress, having to skip meals, avoid heating their homes and getting into arrears with their gas and electricity.”
The Office for National Statistics’ most recent figures show they are part of the 5m people in England and Wales who are unpaid caregivers. A quarter live in poverty and one in seven have to use food banks.
Steve Cowen, CEO of Gateshead Carers, said:
“I hope everyone reading this report talks about it to everyone they come in contact with. That’s family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues and politicians. If you are not providing unpaid care now… you probably will be”.
Read the Report and Executive Summary here.
Picture: Shutterstock
