Cole-Hamilton: End punishment of unpaid carers and deliver fair deal

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today called on the Conservative Government to end their punishment of unpaid carers and stated that only the Liberal Democrats will deliver a fair deal for carers across the UK.

The DWP are seeking to claw back £250m from more than 134,000 unpaid carers who had unknowingly crossed the arbitrary £151-a-week earnings threshold, sometimes by as little as a few pence.

It comes as the Liberal Democrat Party Election Broadcast aired this week, with the UK party leader, Ed Davey, hearing from carers across the country. In the film, Ed Davey, who cared for his mother as a child and now cares for his disabled son, hears from a young carer who struggles to balance their learning with caring responsibilities.

The Liberal Democrats have put support for carers at the heart of their offer to voters at this election by giving an amnesty to those being hounded for overpayments and increasing the carer’s allowance by £1,040 a year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Carers are the backbone of our society, but they are all too often forgotten and ignored.

“This Conservative Government is punishing thousands of carers for a deeply flawed system which creates pointless barriers that prevent them from working.

“Rather than penalising carers, Liberal Democrats would bring forward sensible reforms to remove this injustice. As well as increasing carer's allowance and expanding eligibility for it, we would provide the Scottish Government with money to deliver an equivalent uplift and improvement to Carer Support Payment in Scotland.

“We will support the millions of unpaid carers looking after loved ones, recognising their contributions and ensuring their hard work is properly valued by society.”