The National Carer Organisation in Scotland have issued a statement on the Scottish Budget 

The Scottish Budget takes place on Wednesday 4th December 2024. Unpaid carers and local carer organisations are experiencing significant challenges, with the rising cost of living, funding pressures and many unpaid carers experiencing and living in poverty.

 The National Carer Organisations urge the Scottish Government to provide and secure funding to support unpaid carers. This includes reducing poverty and inequalities to help improve health and wellbeing outcomes. We are calling on the Scottish Government in its budget to: 

  • Provide additional investment in easy access short break services. 
  • Scrap social care charges for disabled and older people. 
  • Allocate funding to improve Carer Support Payment, by:
    • Increasing the earnings threshold of Carer Support Payment by at least £45 per week. 
    •  Extending the payment of Carer Support Payment to 12 weeks after the cared-for person dies. 
    • Delivering an additional payment for those caring for more than one person. 
  • Offset the additional employer National Insurance Contribution costs for local carer organisations and the wider third sector. 

 

The challenges and barriers unpaid carers – including young carers – face are often complex and varied, impacting on all parts of their lives. The value of unpaid care in Scotland is estimated to be £15.9 Billion per year. No unpaid carer should find themselves in poverty as a result of their caring role. The National Carer Organisations believe that the Scottish Government has an opportunity in the Scottish Budget to take action now and demonstrate its commitment to value unpaid carers, and mitigate some of the key challenges they experience.

About the National Care Organisations 

The National Carer Organisations in Scotland are Carers Scotland, Carers Trust Scotland, Coalition of Carers in Scotland, MECOPP, Shared Care Scotland and the Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance. 

Together we have a shared vision that all Scotland’s unpaid carers will feel valued, included and supported as equal partners in the provision of care. We aim to achieve this through the representation of unpaid carers and giving them a voice at a national level. 

We believe we can deliver more for unpaid carers by working together to share our knowledge and experience, and by focusing our collective efforts on achieving improvements in areas of policy and practice that are of greatest concern to unpaid carers.