Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat), on Monday, 12 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 70 members in total.

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CARERS' POVERTY CHARTER

That this House notes that in the National Strategy for Carers the Government pledged that by 2018 carers will be supported so that they are not forced into financial hardship by their caring role; believes that carers cannot wait because too many are living in poverty and financial hardship now, struggling to afford the basic costs of living, unable to study or work without their benefits being cut off, or facing the removal of their allowance when they start to claim their pension; further notes that the UK's six million carers save the country an estimated ??87 billion per year, and that in return, the main carer's benefit is the lowest of its kind, paid at only ??53.10 a week for a minimum of 35 hours caring, equivalent to ??1.52 per hour, far short of the national minimum wage of ??5.73 per hour; supports the Carer's Poverty Charter signed by the Alzheimer's Society, Carers UK, Citizens Advice, Contact a Family, Counsel and Care, Crossroads Caring for Carers, Every Disabled Child Matters, for dementia, Mencap, Macmillan Cancer, Motor Neurone Disease Society, National Autistic Society, Oxfam, Parkinson's Disease Society, Princess Royal Trust for Carers, Rethink, Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and Vitalise; and calls on the Government to set out an urgent timetable of action to improve carers' benefits and income that protects carers from falling into poverty or financial hardship, reflects carers' different circumstances, helps carers to combine caring with paid work and study and is easy to understand and straightforward to claim.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

1995 

Session

2008-09

Other sponsors

John Austin

Martin Caton

Andrew Dismore

Mark Durkan

John Battle

Subjects

Carers Carers' benefits Poverty

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk