Usdaw joined Carer Poverty Coalition, when it was set up last month, it now has 100 organisations signed up to help unpaid carers escape poverty. The coalition is campaigning for better financial support for carers and changes to enable them to combine paid work with unpaid care.
 
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “It is unacceptable that millions of people live in poverty because they care for family or friends. The rate of poverty for those on Carer’s Allowance has doubled in the last decade, which why we are jointly calling on the Chancellor to commit to an inquiry into the relationship between unpaid carers and poverty in the Spring Budget on Wednesday.
 
“Usdaw has a long record of campaigning for a social security system that better supports people providing unpaid care, along with changes to help carers stay in paid work for longer while caring. The vast majority of care in the UK is provided by family and friends; without their willingness and ability to provide care, local authority social services and the NHS would collapse under the strain.
 
“The benefits system is failing unpaid carers, with 1 in 6 in debt because of their caring role and many face barriers to stay in work while caring. So we are calling for a full review of Carer’s Allowance. At just £69.70 a week, it simply isn’t enough to cover the high caring-related costs many carers face, who need to keep their homes warm & vital equipment running.
 
“Many unpaid carers in employment have to reduce their hours or leave work entirely. With the Carer Poverty Coalition, we want to see more support for carers in employment in the Spring Budget, including changes to the earnings limit for carers’ benefits & breaks for carers.
 
“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 more people than ever providing care, the Government must act to recognise and properly reward their enormous contribution.”
 
Usdaw has long campaigned 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 around 360,000 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.
 
Carer Poverty Coalition: Carers UK, Age UK, Carers Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Motor Neurone Disease Association, MS Society, Oxfam GB, Rethink Mental Illness, We Care Campaign and Usdaw are among the 100 organisations who have signed up to the Carers Poverty Coalition. They’ve come together in an effort to lessen the financial hardship experienced by millions of unpaid carers across the UK and will look at what carers need to support them to continue with paid work, alongside their caring role, for as long as possible: www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/carer-poverty-coalition/
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion