Plaid Cymru MP warns Labour welfare cuts will cause more hardship for unpaid carers

Plaid Cymru has criticised the UK Government’s welfare reforms, warning they will plunge thousands more unpaid carers in Wales into financial hardship.

The party’s Work and Pensions spokesperson, Ann Davies MP, also hit out at the Labour Government’s failure to conduct a Wales-specific impact assessment on welfare cuts, despite a direct request from the Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan.

The UK Government’s newly published impact assessment confirms that 150,000 people across the UK will lose their entitlement to carers’ benefits by 2029/30, with cuts totalling £500 million.

Changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) rules will further restrict access to financial support, causing knock-on effects for carers and their families.

Poverty

There are over 310,000 unpaid carers in Wales, looking after ill, older or disabled family members or friends.

A recent report by Carers Wales found that there are around 100,000 unpaid carers living in poverty in Wales.

Ms Davies said a failure to conduct a Wales-specific impact assessment revealed “a shocking disregard for disabled people and those who care for them”, given that Wales has some of the highest health-related benefits claim rates among the working age population in all of England and Wales.

She added that it revealed the partnership between the UK and Welsh Governments was “failing”.

Ms Davies said: “Almost a third of all unpaid carers in Wales live in poverty. That is over 100,000 people in poverty caring for the sick, the elderly and the disabled. The Labour First Minister in Wales, Eluned Morgan, has already asked for a Wales-specific impact assessment of welfare cuts. She has not even had the courtesy of a reply. Can the Minister tell me how many more unpaid carers in Wales will be pushed into hardship due to losing their entitlement to carer’s allowance?”

‘Sustainable’ 

Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, Stephen Timms MP replied: “As the hon. Lady will have gathered, the impact assessment was published yesterday. The figures are there for everybody to see, and the impacts are across the UK; that is correct. I want the support that we provide to be sustainable in the long term for those who depend on it.

“That will be the impact of our changes to the personal independence payment. I also want better support for carers who want to combine working with caring. That is not always easy for people to do. We made a commitment to providing up to £1 billion in better employment support by the end of this Parliament. If we can use that to support carers as well as people who are sick and disabled, we could see a significant reduction in the number of people living in poverty.”

Speaking after the session, Ms Davies added: “We know that Wales has a higher proportion of disabled people of working age, yet the Labour UK Government is refusing to produce a Wales-specific impact assessment of welfare cuts, despite the Labour Welsh Government requesting one.

“This is a shocking disregard for disabled people and those who care for them, and proof that the partnership between both governments is failing.”