Unpaid carers are bearing the brunt of successive governments’ failures to fix the broken social care system, say MPs.
The Health and Social Care Select Committee says unpaid carers are providing work worth £184 billion – the equivalent of a second NHS – in its new report, Adult Social Care Reform: the cost of inaction.
Carers UK policy director Emily Holzhausen says better support cannot come soon enough for carers
But their work is often “unrecognised and comes at great personal, emotional and financial cost as well as a cost to their own health”, the report concludes.
Commission into adult social care
Baroness Louise Casey has been appointed to chair a commission into adult social care.
The commission is due to make recommendations for improving the system.
The Select Committee’s report says the Casey Commission should include a “specific workstream dedicated to reducing the pressures on carers, especially young carers”.
People who depend on care sometimes only receive “basic support, far from enough to enable them to live fulfilling lives”, the report adds.
‘Timely and necessary’
Emily Holzhausen is the policy director at charity Carers UK.
She said the recommendation of a dedicated workstream to look at better support for unpaid carers was “timely and necessary”.
Holzhausen added that, for carers, “change and better support cannot come soon enough”. The charity’s research shows that 1.2 million carers live in poverty.
‘Immediate action’
Care minister Stephen Kinnock said the Labour government inherited a social care system in crisis, but took “immediate action”.
He said the Government has provided a funding boost of up to £3.7 billion.
He added it has also provided an extra 15,000 home adaptations for disabled people, a £2,000 uplift to Carer’s Allowance and the first fair pay agreement for care workers.
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Published: 9 August 2025
