Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “We are proud to support National Carers Week, an annual event highlighting the contribution unpaid carers make every day. The vast majority of care in the UK is provided by family and friends, who make up the UK's 5.7 million carers and without their willingness and ability to provide care, local authority social services and the NHS would collapse under the strain.
“Last month, we welcomed Parliament giving statutory recognition for unpaid carer’s leave. However, any right to leave is really only accessible for low-income workers if it is paid at their average income. That has always been the case, but particularly in a cost of living crisis when most cannot afford to lose pay. So, we are now looking for the Government to build on this step in the right direction.
“All too often carers feel life is a pressure cooker of competing demands, with worries about money, time off work, their own health and that of the person they are caring for. Now, with huge numbers of people providing care, the Government must act to recognise and properly reward their enormous contribution.”
Usdaw is campaigning for the Government to lift the pressure on working carers by:
- Better enabling carers to balance work and care by introducing a statutory right to ten days paid carers leave for all working carers from day one of employment.
- Improving protection from discrimination and redundancy for carers by strengthening the law.
- Raising the rate of Carers Allowance and extending its reach.
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades
www.usdaw.org.uk
Usdaw’s ‘Working Carers Know Your Rights’ leaflet: https://www.usdaw.org.uk/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=f25fe99c-577e-48ed-9612-efc2f31a60b0
Carers Week: www.carersweek.org/
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter
@UsdawUnion