Thank you very much for contacting me about Carer’s Rights Day.
My colleagues and I in the Welsh Conservatives absolutely recognise the tireless efforts of unpaid carers and the amount of time and money they save health and social care services through their complete dedication. However, 22 years of successive Labour Governments in Wales have not only let our unpaid carers down, but COVID-19 has exposed a social care system which is already overstretched and under-funded.
Last year, Carers Wales estimated that the number of carers in Wales has increased from 400,000 to 680,000 during the pandemic – equating to 1 in 5 people in Wales, with the value of unpaid care since the start of the pandemic equating to £33 million every day. It is therefore only right that we recognise and support unpaid carers.
While the Labour Welsh Government published its Carer’s Strategy in March, outlining its “renewed focus” on unpaid carers, its Unpaid Carers Charter is still yet to be published, so carers are still being left without sufficient support. Furthermore, as Carers Wales has outlined, although the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 gives Welsh carers the right to a carer’s needs assessment, only 1 in 5 carers reported having an assessment in the last 12 months and, of those who hadn’t requested an assessment, nearly 40% said that this was because they didn’t know what it was.
It is also shocking to learn from Carers Wales that unpaid carers are feeling disproportionate effects of the pandemic, with carers rating their overall satisfaction with life at an average 4 out of 10 and over a third of carers reporting that they are often or always lonely. It is therefore imperative that Welsh Government urgently acts to ensure that respite is provided to each and every carer so that they may be able to live fulfilled lives.
My colleagues and I in the Welsh Conservatives pledged to give a specific right to respite for unpaid carers in our 2021 Welsh Parliamentary Manifesto, as well as providing free access to training, support and carer assessments. Rest assured, I will continue to push the Labour Welsh Government on these issues.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.