Millions of Unpaid UK Carers Endure Agony Supporting Broken Social Care System
Millions of unpaid carers in the UK are enduring significant hardship while sustaining an outdated, fragmented, and confusing social care system, according to Lady Louise Casey, the government’s adult social care commissioner.
Lady Casey, who is leading an independent review of adult social care, criticised the system for operating as if it were still 1948 rather than 2026, relying heavily on female carers to fill gaps in services.
"It is no longer sustainable to depend on predominantly female unpaid carers and poorly paid care workers to hold the system together until they hit crisis point,"she said.
Speaking at a UK conference in London on Thursday, Casey highlighted the enormous emotional burden placed on unpaid carers, who are primarily women. She noted that these carers are expected to absorb risk, stress, and responsibility so the system does not have to.
"This can’t go on any longer,"Casey stated.
Independent Review and System Challenges
Commissioned by the government in January 2025, Casey is leading a two-stage review aimed at fulfilling Labour’s manifesto commitment to establish a national care service. The first report from this review is anticipated later this year.
She has previously warned of a looming crisis in adult social care as the system struggles to meet the needs of an ageing population and increasing numbers of people living with chronic conditions such as dementia.
Lady Casey is a former social campaigner and senior civil servant, known for chairing national inquiries into homelessness, the Troubled Families programme, and grooming gangs, among other issues.
Carers Face Uncertainty and Lack of Support
Casey described carers as receiving no reassurance or continuity, with limited clarity about the level of support available, how to access it, who provides it, or who pays for it.
"The system made things far harder than it needs to be. We end up in a position where elderly parents in their 70s are still carrying their 40-year-old disabled son upstairs to bed every night, worried that if they ask for help the consequences of asking for that help will make their lives worse and not better,"she said.
Carers often have to fight for state support at every stage.
"Carers spend more time sorting out problems with the health and social care system, I think sometimes, than spending time with their loved ones,"Casey added.
She reported that carers have expressed feeling like "unpaid project managers," struggling to navigate a confusing system and frequently wondering
"what the bloody hell is going on most of the time."
Each agency operates under its own rules and interpretations, and Casey noted that these variations are often imposed on the public as their problem to solve rather than the system’s.
"And I think that’s indicative of a system that isn’t putting the public first,"she said.
The system can cause carers to feel as if they are
"living an agony. And, frankly, I think we should be able to take the agony out of care."
Statistics and Carers’ Experiences
There are an estimated 5.8 million unpaid carers in the UK, with 1.7 million providing 50 or more hours of care per week. The economic value of unpaid care is approximately £184 million, and about 60% of unpaid carers are women.
"The experience of being a carer can be … one of the most important and indeed uplifting things someone can do for the people they love and the people in their community,"Casey said.
"But the reality is that it is tiring, uncomfortable, repetitive, distressing and downright frustrating."
