Millions of unpaid UK carers ‘living in agony’, says Louise Casey | Carers
Louise Casey, chair of the government’s adult social care commission, said millions of unpaid carers in the UK were “suffering” while supporting an outdated, fragmented and confusing social care system.
Lady Casey, who is leading an independent review of adult social care, criticized a system that “acts like we’re still living in 1948 and not 2026” by relying on female carers to fill gaps in services.
Relying on predominantly female unpaid carers and low-paid care workers to hold the system together until crisis point was reached was no longer sustainable, he said.
Speaking at the Carers UK conference in London on Thursday, Casey said care took a huge emotional toll on unpaid carers; these were primarily women and were “expected to take on the risk, the stress and the responsibility so the system wouldn’t have to do this… This can’t go on any longer,” he said.
Casey was appointed by the government in January 2025 to lead a two-phase project. review of adult social care It aimed to deliver on Labour’s manifesto commitment to create a national care service. The first report is expected to be published this year.
He has previously warned that the adult social care system faces a “moment of reckoning” as it struggles to meet the needs of an aging population and increasing numbers of people living with chronic conditions such as dementia.
Casey is a former social campaigner and senior civil servant known for chairing a series of government-ordered national investigations into issues including homelessness, the Metropolitan police, troubled families and grooming gangs.
He said carers were given no reassurance or continuity, with little clarity about the level of support on offer, how to access it, and who provided or paid for the support.
The system has made things “much harder than they need to be. We’ve ended up in a situation where elderly parents in their 70s are still carrying their disabled 40-year-old son upstairs to bed every night, and they’re worried that if they ask for help, the consequences of asking for help will make their lives worse rather than better.”
Casey said carers often had to “fight every step of the way” for government support, adding: “Carers, I think sometimes, spend more time trying to solve problems in the health and social care system than spending time with their loved ones.”
She said caregivers tell her they feel like “unpaid project managers” trying to navigate a confusing system and figure out “what’s going on most of the time.”
He said each institution has its own rules and interpretations, and said, “These differences are brought to the public’s attention and, frankly, oftentimes they are made into their problem, not our problem. And I think that’s indicative of a system that doesn’t put the public first.”
The system can make the caregiver “feel like they’re experiencing pain. And frankly, I think we should be able to take that pain out of care.”
There are an estimated 5.8 million unpaid carers in the UK, 1.7 million of whom provide care for 50 hours or more per week. The economic value of unpaid care is around £184 million and around 60% of unpaid carers are women.
“The experience of being a caregiver…can be one of the most important and truly uplifting things someone can do for the people they love and for people in the community,” Casey said. “But the truth is that it is tiring, irritating, repetitive, distressing and downright frustrating.”
