Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing the debate and support the asks that she has made of the Minister. It was a pleasure to join her, carers, Ministers and colleagues last night at the “State of Caring” report launch and it is a pleasure to support Carers Rights Day today.
No one expects to become a carer. It is not something we set out in our plans for the future or our lifetime goals. It usually happens because a loved one falls ill, or, as in my family, because a child has a complex disability, identified early on in life. The burden of care usually falls on women. It is absolutely right that we acknowledge that and discuss today the huge inequalities they face.
One of my children has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. My wife and I decided to give up full-time work in 2016, the year my daughter had 110 medical and physiotherapy appointments, to job share the care components at home while we both worked part time. I accept that the majority of the burden has fallen on my wife over the years. Although we have not been in poverty, it did at that point leave a subsequent hole in our finances, with difficult decisions about the things we could no longer do. Those are the decisions that so many carers make, and they have a wider impact on the economy.
My day started, as it does the majority of days, at 6.15 this morning. I was changing a 12-year-old’s nappy before getting her dressed, fed and putting her in a wheelchair ready for the school bus to come and collect her. There is complexity at the other end of the day, too. This afternoon and tomorrow night, my wife and I will be doing rotas, as we normally do, to work out who is doing the care at the other end of the day. Real pressures are caused by the shortage and affordability of paid carers to support the many families across the country that experience what we do daily.
I strongly welcome the announcement yesterday from the Department for Business and Trade on the terms of reference for the review of employment rights for unpaid carers, and the comments made by the Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Kate Dearden), at last night’s reception. The review will allow engagement from carers, employers and trade unions to understand how the existing unpaid carer’s leave entitlement is working; to examine options for different models of paid carer’s leave; to consider the options and principles for additional interventions; and to identify options with low or no cost to business and the Exchequer, and the appropriate routes for implementation.
I thank my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability for visiting my constituency back in May, when he met representatives of local charities —Carers Support Bexley, Bexley Mencap, Age UK Bexley, Citizens Advice Bexley, Irish Community Services, Bexley Voice, Bexley Deaf Centre, Inspire Community Trust and Bexley Voluntary Service Council —to discuss the support they give to carers through respite, equipment provision and, notably, access to financial guidance. I have worked with those groups for many years, both as a councillor and a carer, and I thank them for all they do to support my constituents across Barnehurst, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Northumberland Heath and Slade Green. At that roundtable, they set out how they are trying to provide financial support and introduce new innovative ways of working, which I know the Minister will have taken away and be looking at in detail.
I also thank two other local charities, Crossroads Care South East London and Evergreen Care, for their work supporting my constituents, and I pay tribute to carers across my constituency. As a parent collecting my child outside the gates of respite care, I know those parents. I am not just their MP; I have worked with them for many years. They may bring their cases to me, but they are my friends and fellow carers, and I pay tribute to them for all they do in very challenging circumstances.
Lastly, I have a few asks for the Minister. I hear what my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley said about the cycle of issues facing carers. We were lucky because we were working part-time in occupations that paid enough of an hourly rate to keep us going, but carers can face a cycle of poverty. They can also face health conditions as a result of being a carer. I am still lifting a 12-year-old around my house, which is still not fully accessible; she will never walk. We need to face those issues burdening carers, and the support in the 10-year-health plan will help with that.
In Parliament, we are employers too. We have a good ParliCare network for parliamentary staff, but we must always be setting an example. In Parliament, and through the ParliCare network, we as Members and employers must do all we can to demonstrate that we will support carers and that we expect others in the country to do the same.