Work of our carers ‘not properly valued’
Charity calls for more support for role
HEALTH: The majority of people in the UK do not feel that the 6.5m plus unpaid carers are sufficiently valued for the estimated £132bn a year worth of free services they provide every year, says research.
The YouGov poll of 2,184 adults found 74 per cent feel carers are not sufficiently valued by society for the support they provide.
THE MAJORITY of people in the UK do not feel that the country’s 6.5m plus unpaid carers are sufficiently valued for the estimated £132bn a year worth of free services they provide every year, according to research published today for the start of Carers Week.
The YouGov poll of 2,184 adults found that 74 per cent feel carers are not sufficiently valued by society for the support they provide.
More than 6.5m people in the UK are currently providing care for an older, disabled or seriously-ill loved one and the unpaid care provided by UK’s carers has been estimated to be worth £132bn a year, according to charity Carers UK.
Heléna Herklots CBE, on behalf of Carers Week, said: “It is deeply concerning that threequarters of respondents feel carers are undervalued by society for their contribution.
“The Carers Week charities seek to raise awareness of the huge contribution that carers are making every day to the lives of the family and friends they support and to their communities.
“In Carers Week we’re calling on the public, government and all parts of society to play their part in supporting carers by helping to build communities that recognise and understand the value and needs of carers.
“From hospitals that provide discounts for carers in their cafés, or workplaces that give employees paid leave for caring; to offering to shop for a friend who struggles to get out of the house, there are hundreds of small changes we can make to ensure our communities become more carer friendly.
“We urge our new Government to do more to value and recognise the contribution made by the UK’s 6.5m unpaid carers and urgently set out its plans by publishing a strategy for carers. As a society we depend on unpaid carers – it’s time we had a plan for how to better recognise and support them.”
Each day, 6,000 people take on a caring role but the poll showed that many people were unaware how likely it was they would take on a caring role and would be unprepared if they did become a carer.
One in five people aged 50 to 64 are carers yet half of those who are not currently carers thought it unlikely they would ever become a carer.
When asked their top three concerns, affordability of care and the impact on their finances was the top worry for people who have never had a caring experience if they were faced with taking on a caring role.
Coping with the stress of caring was the second biggest worry.
Nearly a third who have never cared for someone said they would worry they didn’t have the skills or experience to become a carer and 26 per cent said they would worry about the impact of caring on their physical health.
Carers providing 50 hours or more a week of care are more than twice as likely to be in poor health as non-carers, according to the Census 2011.
Almost a quarter of those polled who have never cared would not know or understand what help would be available if they became a carer.
The online YouGov poll was conducted on behalf of eight major charities who are calling on the new UK Government and society to do more to recognise the important contribution that unpaid carers make and support them to care.
It’s time we had a plan to better recognise and support them Heléna Herklots CBE, the chief executive of Carers UK, the national charity.