Carers Week – Caring About Inequality
According to Carers UK, there are 5.8 million people in the UK caring for a family member, friend or neighbour who is ill, older or disabled. This year’s Carers Week runs from 9th -15th June and focuses on the inequality carers face due to their caring role. This may be through their own health issues, poverty due to not being able to work or take on full time jobs around their caring responsibilities and missing out on opportunities to advance within their career due to the impact that would have on their ability to provide care.
Financial inequality:
The Family Fund recently carried out a survey that found:
- 44% of families told us they experience income insufficiency, meaning they cannot meet day-to-day expenses despite receiving disability benefits.
- Parents/carers provide the equivalent of an extra full-time unpaid caring role every single day, leaving just 7% able to work as much as they would like.
- 80% of families are unable to replace essential household items like fridges, beds, or washing machines when they break.
In Scotland the Carer Support Payment is available to those who care for someone for 35 hours who is in receipt of a Disability Payment (Adult/Child/Pension Age). This benefit can give an extra £83.30 per week to an unpaid carer.
You can work and earn up to £196 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses and still qualify for Carer Support Payment.
If the person you care for does not live with you, claiming carers payments can negatively impact their benefits, please contact our Financial Wellbeing Officer to discuss this before making a claim.
If you are in receipt of Carer Support Payment, Social Security Scotland will also pay a Carer’s Allowance Supplement twice a year, usually in June and December This year the payments are both £293.50.
If you are in receipt of Universal Credit, you may be entitled to a Carers Element. You do not need to be claiming Carer Support Payment to be in receipt of this, which is useful if, for example, you do work part-time but your earnings are above the limit for Carer Support Payment. This element can increase your Universal Credit payments.
As a carer you may also be entitled to extra support with your Council Tax, there are also discounts where the home has been adapted for a disabled person to live in, for example an extra bedroom for a carer, or if an adult living in the property is ‘severely mentally impaired’.
If you are feeling the squeeze and need new white goods, there may be grants that can help with this. There are also charities that can offer grants for much needed holidays for carers to unwind. Our Financial Wellbeing Officer can assist with applications.
Carers are also entitled to a free companion ticket to most events when attending with the person they care for, more inform can be found on our website here: https://haemophilia.scot/extra-support/ .
Health and Wellbeing Inequality
As a carer it is in your nature to be putting someone else’s needs first. However, Family Fund found that this is having a negative impact on carers health:
- 28% of parents/carers have wellbeing scores consistent with being depressed.
- 68% of children are negatively affected by their family’s financial situation, with impacts on emotional wellbeing, health, development, or education.
Carers UK found that:
- 70% of carers report a long term physical or mental health condition, disability or illness, compared to 50% of non-carers.
Carers Trust have created a Wellbeing Toolkit for unpaid caring adults and young carers with lots of hints and tips on looking after yourself when you look after others.
Carers UK also offers a wealth of information on how to keep your wellbeing in top form and offer the chance to meet virtually with other carers to help reduce the feelings of loneliness and isolation.
There may be tailored support in your area you can find a list of carer centres here, you do not need a referral and can contact them direct to find out what support is available.
Carers Rights
Juggling a job whilst caring for someone can be tricky, Carers UK have a useful leaflet outlining your rights at work:
https://www.carersuk.org/media/s3ujvjnh/your-rights-in-work-april-2025-26.pdf
They are also offering an online information session on 11 June, 2-3pm and you can book the session here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/h_1SW7hLS2eNfXWm9p_GXQ#/registration
Young Carers
A young carer is someone who carers for someone and is under the age of 18 while providing the care or is over the age of 18 and in school.
Carers Trust’s latest Young Carer and Young Adult Carer Survey found:
•49% of young carers don’t get help in school, college or university to balance caring with their education.
• 52% said they feel stressed because of being a young carer or young adult carer.
• 51% feel worried about their future.
• 43% said caring affects how much time they can spend with their friends.
A parent can request a young carers assessment from the local council. This will determine the help you or your family may need and what the local council can provide.
This may be to help the person you care for so it does not impact on your school day or someone to help in the evenings so you can enjoy time with your friends.
The carers assessment can be shared with the school so that extra support can be provided. More information on the assessment can be found on the Carers Trust Website.
For those aged 16, 17 and 18 who provide 16 hours of care or more, a Young Carer Grant can be claimed. This is £390.25 this year and can be claimed once a year. The young carer can use this for anything that they like.
Members’ Stories
A couple of our wonderful members have shared some of the challenges they face being a carer.
Liza:
Unable to work for many years and as a single parent it meant living off benefits.
Stress, depression and anxiety have played a massive part in my life. Missing out on concerts as my son needed treatment.
Unable to go on holidays abroad due to financial constraints and also as a lone parent I was too scared to go alone without other adults to support me and my younger daughter.
It might have been extremely difficult but I wouldn’t change it, my kids are my world and my son needed me and although life was tricky being there for him was the most important thing.
Nicola:
Hospital trips can be costly as we don’t stay near the hospital and only my husband drives. We sometimes need time off work for his appointments and for emergencies which can be a juggle and again can have a financial impact. He needs supportive footwear generally and for playing football which again can cost a lot. I work part time as it works for us as a family and means I’m about more for dealing with factor deliveries and time off school due to injuries.
It doesn’t really affect my health though I am generally aware to expect the unexpected and know we can be off to hospital at any point with him. His condition can be restrictive as he will only let me administer his factor.
It can be restrictive as I’m needed to administer his factor but I can usually make it work. Any time away is always worked out around when he is due factor though. Plans can be cancelled or changed at late notice due to injuries and hospital trips which can be frustrating but can’t always be helped. We’ve had to spend a night in hospital while on holiday before due to injury – thankfully the grandparents were with us so they could look after our daughter while we were in the hospital.
Having to attend school trips due to high risk events and staying during football training and matches can be tricky around working hours but we manage it well for now.
Sources
- https://www.familyfund.org.uk/impact/research/research-reports/the-cost-of-caring-2025/
- https://www.carersuk.org/press-releases/carers-week-2025-launches-theme-caring-about-equality
- https://www.nhs.uk/social-care-and-support/support-and-benefits-for-carers/being-a-young-carer-your-rights/#:~:text=You’re%20a%20young%20carer,be%20a%20carer%20at%20all.
- https://carers.org/know-your-rights-young-carers-guide/young-carers-rights-in-scotland