Wow! Victoria you have worked so hard on this. Maybe one of the reasons unpaid carers don't appear as part of this report is that unpaid carers save the country billions, and if social care isn't ever going to be made a priority, then it is felt better to keep carers proping up the system rather than helping them to get back into work?
It is hard to disagree with anything you say here. My work has given me an insight into how anxiety provoking it is to have to project manage (as you say) the endless circles and frustrations of engaging with government agencies. The very real worries about payments being stopped or curtailed add an extra anxiety to an already difficult situation. I am also very interested in how the seeming need to avoid up front costs of preventive measures just exacerbates so many areas of ill health or functional difficulties. And pushing these costs further down the line has a snow ball effect, they grow and grow and then when people reach crisis point, there is insufficient response, lack of financial support and utter confusion. I think there is a broad brush suggestion that 'unfit to work' equals 'malingering' and that forcing the sick back to work is the answer (I use forcing rather than facilitating because that is how is feels to the people I work with). There is no recognition of the wide spectrum of what unfit means, and no recognition of the adverse impact on the mental health of the carer who gives up their work, their plans, their aspirations to care for a loved one. Like many social issues, we are in the position, through lack of foresight or financial commitment or both, of tinkering around the edges, rather than having a coherent, future proof strategy. I could say the same of the NHS and I daresay the same is true of education.
Thanks for taking the time to read the article and comment, Johanna. I appreciate the points you've raised, that old stereotyped myth of people wanting to 'sponge off' the welfare state, and the pressures imposed on people - anyone who's gone through the paperwork and questions, and process will know how far from the truth that is.
'Tinkering around the edges' - yes! It feels like bandaids and a mindset of scarcity, rather than bold initiatives for growth and well being.
Thank you for bringing your work insights and expertise into this.
I'll be sharing another report in my November Roundup article - keep a look at for that. I know you'll feel some relief, as I did, when I read THAT report.
I'm relieved I reached out to you and the others. xo
Wow! Victoria you have worked so hard on this. Maybe one of the reasons unpaid carers don't appear as part of this report is that unpaid carers save the country billions, and if social care isn't ever going to be made a priority, then it is felt better to keep carers proping up the system rather than helping them to get back into work?
I wrote this back in 2023
NEW EMPLOYMENT LEGLISATION THAT MIGHT SUPPORT CARERS | Disability Talk https://share.google/vVHgjXqd3TXgbgoi6
But I don't think anything has really changed for unpaid carers
It is hard to disagree with anything you say here. My work has given me an insight into how anxiety provoking it is to have to project manage (as you say) the endless circles and frustrations of engaging with government agencies. The very real worries about payments being stopped or curtailed add an extra anxiety to an already difficult situation. I am also very interested in how the seeming need to avoid up front costs of preventive measures just exacerbates so many areas of ill health or functional difficulties. And pushing these costs further down the line has a snow ball effect, they grow and grow and then when people reach crisis point, there is insufficient response, lack of financial support and utter confusion. I think there is a broad brush suggestion that 'unfit to work' equals 'malingering' and that forcing the sick back to work is the answer (I use forcing rather than facilitating because that is how is feels to the people I work with). There is no recognition of the wide spectrum of what unfit means, and no recognition of the adverse impact on the mental health of the carer who gives up their work, their plans, their aspirations to care for a loved one. Like many social issues, we are in the position, through lack of foresight or financial commitment or both, of tinkering around the edges, rather than having a coherent, future proof strategy. I could say the same of the NHS and I daresay the same is true of education.
Thanks for taking the time to read the article and comment, Johanna. I appreciate the points you've raised, that old stereotyped myth of people wanting to 'sponge off' the welfare state, and the pressures imposed on people - anyone who's gone through the paperwork and questions, and process will know how far from the truth that is.
'Tinkering around the edges' - yes! It feels like bandaids and a mindset of scarcity, rather than bold initiatives for growth and well being.
Thank you for bringing your work insights and expertise into this.
I'll be sharing another report in my November Roundup article - keep a look at for that. I know you'll feel some relief, as I did, when I read THAT report.
I'm relieved I reached out to you and the others. xo