We need help before next general election, carers say

Carers in Dorset have urged the government to provide more help and support now and not wait until the next general election.

There are about 35,000 people caring for family members in the county, most of them unpaid, many also working full-time jobs.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to put a "National Care Service" on the ballot paper at the next election, which could be as late as July 2029.

Rob Mariner, from Blandford, who combines caring for his wife Mary, who has dementia, with working from home as a software engineer, said people needed help and support now.

Rob told Politics South that he was only able to work from home after dropping Mary at their local day centre in Blandford four mornings a week.

"As Mary's condition deteriorated, last year was becoming very tight timewise," he said.

"Getting her ready in the morning, getting myself ready, trying to log on at 08:30 in the morning, so with the support of my employer I've reduced my hours, so I do short working days, which is much better for me."

He said he was grateful that he can still work, but that it is hard for carers that may not have supportive employers.

"A lot of carers are caught between a rock and a hard place, they've got to go out to work," he said. "Somebody's got to pay for care and that's not necessarily cheap."

According to charity Carers UK, more than 1.1 million people have had to give up work in the last two years to care for a family member.

The organisation is calling on the government and employers to come up with a package of measures to help tackle the issue.

John Perryman, from the charity, said: "Carers, up and down the country are providing really substantial hours of care at the moment because of a lack of formal care services, and that's placing a real burden on them and their families.

"We need to see a stronger push from the government around encouraging employers to take action, but also for them to put in place the rights and entitlements that people need.

"And from Carers UK's perspective, that starts with a right to paid carers leave, which would allow people to take some time out of work to manage those caring responsibilities without forcing them to leave work entirely."

Eleven years ago, Steve Duckett from Corfe Mullen gave up his job in local government to care for his wife Sandy, which he did full-time right up until she died in August this year.

"It was challenging, I was doing over one hundred hour weeks. It became really really difficult," he said.

"The multiple pressures suddenly get to that tipping point."

He now campaigns for better treatment of carers who are also trying to hold down a full-time job.

"There's people, day after day after day, doing the long hours. It's a change of culture, that's what we really need," he said.

"We need people to understand just what unpaid carers contribute, it's enormous, without it, the health and social care system would collapse."

Leader of Dorset Council Nick Ireland agreed the government should act now and not wait until the next election.

"We estimate that there's around 35,000 people in Dorset Council's area who are caring for family or someone they know, but not being paid for it," he said.

"They form an indispensable part of our social care system.

"Without the unpaid carers who look after these people, the formal demand for home and residential care would escalate substantially, and Dorset Council taxpayers would somehow have to pay for those."

Downing Street has said the prime minister's planned change will save £15bn a year by the end of the 2030s.

The government has not set out the full details of how the "national care system" will work, but has clarified that while an individual's direct care costs would be covered, their accommodation costs in a residential or nursing home would not be.

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