Marie Curie response to Social Market Foundation's report
Comment published
“We are concerned but not surprised by the findings of today’s report from the Social Market Foundation, revealing that 7.5 million people in the UK provide unpaid care for their relatives, an increase of one million since 2005.
A Marie Curie funded study conducted by researchers at University College London (UCL) in 2015 found that unpaid carers for people with terminal cancer provide the equivalent of £219 million of care each year. With our ageing population and increasing care needs amongst older people, we are going to see more people who need care and fewer unpaid carers able to meet that need.
It is not sustainable to expect unpaid carers to continue shouldering this burden, and government needs to act to ensure that our social care services are given the resources they need to care for vulnerable people. Continued reliance on an army of unpaid carers is neither a fair nor responsible solution to the social care crisis."
Scott Sinclair, Head of Policy & Public Affairs for England at Marie Curie