Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Social Care, commenting on the publication of a new Carers Action Plan, said:

“This action plan is notable for planning very little action that would actually support carers, when the need for support through better-funded social care has never been more urgent.

“After eight years of inhumane Tory cuts to council budgets, there is a £6.3 billion hole in social care funding. That means there are 400,000 fewer people receiving publicly funded care, and that is heaping pressure on unpaid carers.

“The next Labour government will show carers that we value them. We’ll invest £8 billion in social care across the next Parliament, raise the Carers’ Allowance for full-time unpaid carers in line with Job Seeker’s Allowance, and we will deliver an updated Carers’ Strategy in Government.”