The life and times of an unpaid carer.

We often talk about listening, inclusion, and empathy, but one of the most powerful ways to show respect is by recognising a person’s lived experience. Lived experience is the knowledge, understanding, and insight gained through personally navigating life’s challenges, opportunities, successes, and setbacks. When people feel their experiences are respected rather than dismissed, it can have a profound impact on their confidence, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.

Being Seen and Heard

For many people, particularly those who have faced adversity, illness, discrimination, poverty, trauma, or caring responsibilities, their lived experience shapes how they see the world. When others acknowledge and respect these experiences, it sends a simple but powerful message: your story matters.

Being genuinely listened to helps people feel valued. It reduces the frustration that comes from having to constantly justify or explain personal experiences. Instead of feeling invisible, individuals feel recognised as experts in their own lives.

Building Trust and Confidence

Respecting lived experience creates trust. Whether in healthcare, education, workplaces, or community settings, people are more likely to engage openly when they know their perspectives will be taken seriously.

When someone’s experiences are validated, they often become more confident in sharing ideas, making decisions, and contributing to discussions. Their confidence grows because they know their knowledge is not being judged solely against qualifications, status, or titles, but is appreciated for the unique understanding it provides.

Improving Decisions and Outcomes

People with lived experience offer insights that cannot be learned from textbooks alone. Their perspectives can highlight practical barriers, unintended consequences, and opportunities that professionals may overlook.

Organisations that actively involve individuals with lived experience often design services, policies, and support systems that are more responsive and effective. By listening to those directly affected, decisions become grounded in reality rather than assumption.

Reducing Stigma and Isolation

One of the most damaging feelings a person can experience is the belief that no one understands them. Respecting lived experience helps challenge this isolation.

When experiences are acknowledged without judgement, stigmas begin to break down. People feel safer sharing their stories, seeking support, and connecting with others. This creates more compassionate communities where differences are understood rather than feared.

Creating Genuine Inclusion

True inclusion goes beyond inviting people into the room. It means ensuring their voices influence conversations and decisions. Respecting lived experience empowers individuals to move from being passive recipients to active participants.

By valuing lived experience alongside professional expertise, organisations and communities benefit from a richer diversity of knowledge. Everyone gains when different perspectives are welcomed and respected.

A Simple Act with Lasting Impact

Respecting lived experience does not require complex policies or grand gestures. It often begins with listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and believing people when they describe their reality.

For the individual, the impact can be life-changing. Feeling respected can restore dignity, strengthen self-worth, and encourage greater participation in society. It reminds people that they are not defined by their challenges but enriched by the experiences that have shaped them.

In a world where many people struggle to feel heard, respecting lived experience is more than an act of kindness. It is an acknowledgement of humanity itself, and it has the power to transform lives, relationships, and communities for the better.

In a country that prides itself on fairness and compassion, thousands of unpaid carers are facing an impossible choice every day: feed the person they care for, or feed themselves.

The evidence gathered by the Right to Food Commission paints a stark picture of a hidden crisis. Across the UK, unpaid carers are skipping meals, relying on food banks, buying cheaper and less nutritious food, and sacrificing their own wellbeing to ensure the people they support do not go without.

A Crisis Hidden Behind Closed Doors

Food poverty is often discussed in terms of statistics and economics. Yet the voices captured by the Right to Food UK Commission reveal a far more personal reality.

People spoke about weighing up the cost of a bus fare against a meal, being unable to afford the energy needed to cook food, and feeling ashamed to ask for help. The Commission heard repeatedly that food security is about more than simply having food available. It is about having the ability, facilities, income and dignity to eat properly. As one contributor put it: “Food security means meals, not just ingredients.”

For unpaid carers, this reality is often magnified by the financial penalties that come with caring.

The Price of Caring

The Commission heard from carers who described giving up their own meals when money ran short. Bristol Women’s Voice reported that 12% of unpaid carers in Bristol experience moderate or severe food insecurity compared to a city average of 7.9%. The consultation also found that carers often see food as the foundation of care itself, yet regularly sacrifice their own share when there is not enough to go around.

The evidence is even more alarming when caring for disabled family members.

One carer described supporting a non-verbal son whose needs resulted in significantly higher household costs. The family faced increased energy consumption, specialist food requirements and the additional expense of disability-related living costs. In order to cope financially, the carer went without food herself, losing a significant amount of weight.

Another participant captured the reality many carers face:

“As a carer I’ve gone without food.”

This is not an isolated story. It is part of a wider pattern where unpaid carers absorb the impact of an inadequate system by sacrificing their own health.

Food Banks Are Not the Answer

For many carers, food banks have become a last resort. Yet the Commission found that food aid often fails to meet people’s actual needs.

Food parcels may contain food that cannot be cooked, food that does not meet dietary requirements, or food that requires time and energy carers simply do not have. Disabled people and carers reported receiving food they could not eat, access or prepare. Others spoke about food banks being located too far away, having complicated referral systems, or operating in ways that felt humiliating and stigmatising.

One participant summed it up powerfully:

“Food shouldn’t be something you desperately seek; it should be something you have.”

The problem is not a lack of charity. The problem is that charity has become a substitute for a rights-based approach.

The Extra Costs Nobody Sees

Unpaid carers face financial pressures that many policymakers fail to recognise.

Higher energy bills, specialist diets, transport costs, disability-related expenses and reduced opportunities for paid work all combine to make food insecurity more likely. The Disability Poverty Campaign Group reported that more than half of parents and carers of disabled children have skipped meals or reduced portion sizes because of financial pressures.

The Commission also heard that carers are often trapped by systems that assume everyone can travel easily, shop independently and prepare meals from scratch. For many carers, particularly those supporting people with complex needs, these assumptions simply do not reflect reality.

Dignity, Not Dependency

Throughout the evidence, one message came through again and again: people do not want handouts. They want dignity.

Participants called for adequate incomes, accessible support, affordable food, stronger social security and a legal Right to Food that would place responsibility on government rather than charity. Disabled people and carers argued that food security should be embedded within carers’ assessments and health and social care systems, ensuring support arrives before people reach crisis point.

The Commission heard repeated calls to move away from emergency food parcels towards community-based solutions that prioritise choice, dignity and proper meals. As one participant put it:

“Change it so we have meal banks not food banks.”

Caring Should Not Mean Going Hungry

Unpaid carers save society billions of pounds every year. They provide care that sustains families, communities and public services. Yet too many are struggling to afford the most basic necessity of all: food.

The evidence from the Right to Food UK Commission shows that this is not a problem of personal failure. It is a consequence of low incomes, rising living costs and systems that expect carers to absorb the pressures that the state fails to address.

If we truly value unpaid carers, we must move beyond warm words and recognition days. We must ensure that nobody is forced to skip a meal in order to care for someone they love.

Because food justice is care justice.

And no carer should ever have to choose between caring and eating.

Solutions: Moving Beyond Food Banks and Towards Food Security

The stories gathered by theRight to Food Commission make one thing clear: unpaid carers do not need more charity. They need a system that prevents them from going hungry in the first place. Throughout the Commission’s work, carers, disabled people, community organisations and frontline services proposed practical solutions that would tackle the root causes of food insecurity rather than simply responding to crisis.

Ensure Carers Have Enough Income to Live On

The strongest and most consistent recommendation was the need for an adequate income. Carers repeatedly highlighted that food insecurity is driven by low incomes, rising living costs and the financial penalties associated with caring responsibilities. Many are forced to reduce working hours or leave employment altogether, while the additional costs of disability and caring continue to rise.

A genuine solution would include a substantial increase in financial support for carers, a social security system that reflects the real costs of caring, and a guaranteed minimum income that ensures nobody is left unable to afford the essentials of life.

Embed Food Security into Carers’ Assessments

One of the most important recommendations from disabled people and carers was simple: ask the question before a crisis occurs.

Food security should become a recognised part of carers’ assessments and social care assessments. Local authorities and health services should have a duty to identify when carers are struggling to afford food and provide support before hunger becomes a safeguarding issue. Participants also stressed that needing help to buy food should never be viewed as evidence of neglect or poor parenting.

Create a Legal Right to Food

Many contributors argued that food should be treated as a legal right rather than a matter of charity or goodwill.

A legal Right to Food would place clear responsibilities on governments and public bodies to ensure people can access affordable, nutritious food. Crucially, it would create accountability when systems fail and provide people with a means of challenging decisions that leave them hungry. Participants repeatedly stated that rights must be enforceable and backed by action, not simply written into legislation without meaningful implementation.

Replace Food Banks with Dignified Community Food Systems

The Commission heard widespread frustration that food banks have become a permanent feature of modern Britain.

Instead, people called for investment in community food hubs, food co-operatives, social supermarkets, community kitchens and affordable restaurants where people can access food without shame. These models allow individuals to choose food that meets their dietary, cultural and personal needs while maintaining dignity and independence.

As one participant argued, the goal should be “meal banks, not food banks” because a bag of ingredients is of little value if someone lacks the energy, facilities or time to cook.

Recognise the Extra Costs of Disability and Caring

For many unpaid carers, food insecurity is inseparable from disability-related costs.

The Commission heard evidence about higher energy bills, specialist diets, transport costs and expensive food requirements. Some families need specific brands of food due to sensory needs, allergies or medical conditions, while others face significant delivery charges because they cannot shop independently.

Future policy must recognise these realities. Support should reflect the actual cost of disability and caring rather than relying on average household spending patterns that fail to capture the lived experience of carers.

Build Services Around Dignity and Trust

Perhaps the most important lesson from the Commission is that dignity matters.

People described experiences of being interrogated before receiving help, navigating complex referral systems and feeling judged for seeking support. The most successful services were those that treated people with respect, offered choice and built relationships rather than creating barriers.

For carers already carrying enormous responsibilities, support should be simple to access, available locally and designed around people’s lives rather than administrative processes.

A Call for Action

If unpaid carers are expected to continue holding families, communities and public services together, then society must stop expecting them to carry the burden of food poverty too.

The solutions already exist. They came directly from carers, disabled people and communities across the UK. They include adequate incomes, stronger rights, accessible support, community-led food systems and a commitment to dignity.

The question is not whether we know how to solve this problem.

The question is whether we are willing to act before more carers are forced to sit at their kitchen tables and decide that once again, they will be the one who goes without dinner.

For too long, the public conversation around disability benefits and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has been dominated by myths, misinformation and harmful stereotypes.

Headlines often focus on cost rather than need. Commentators speak about disabled people without listening to disabled people. Political rhetoric can reduce complex human experiences to simple narratives that fuel division rather than understanding.

That is why we launched #ChallengeTheNarrative.

This campaign is not simply about defending benefits. It is about defending dignity.

The Problem with the Current Narrative

Many disabled people have become accustomed to seeing themselves portrayed as a burden, a problem to be solved, or a cost to be reduced.

Stories that focus on rare cases of abuse often receive far greater attention than the daily realities faced by millions of disabled people.

The result is a public perception that is frequently disconnected from reality.

When misinformation is repeated often enough, it begins to shape attitudes. Those attitudes influence public debate. Public debate influences policy. Policy influences lives.

This cycle has consequences.

Disabled people report increased stigma, increased suspicion and increased hostility when disability support becomes the target of sensational headlines or political point-scoring.

The Reality of PIP

One of the most persistent myths is that PIP is an out-of-work benefit.

It is not.

PIP exists to help with the additional costs associated with living with a disability or long-term health condition.

Many recipients are in employment.

Many live with conditions that are invisible to others.

Many face significant extra costs every day for transport, equipment, heating, communication, personal care and independent living.

PIP is not about luxury.

For many people, it is about survival.

For others, it is the difference between isolation and participation.

The Human Cost of Misinformation

Words matter.

The way society talks about disability matters.

Every time a disabled person is accused of “having it easy”, questioned about their condition or forced to justify their support, the impact of misinformation becomes visible.

Behind every benefit claim is a person.

A person managing pain.

A person navigating barriers.

A person trying to maintain independence.

A person deserving of respect.

Too often these realities are overlooked in favour of narratives that generate outrage rather than understanding.

Disabled People Are Not the Problem

The real challenge facing disabled people is not the support they receive.

It is the barriers they encounter.

Inaccessible transport.

Inaccessible housing.

Inaccessible workplaces.

Inaccessible healthcare.

Inaccessible attitudes.

When society focuses solely on reducing support, it ignores the wider issues that continue to exclude disabled people from full participation in everyday life.

The conversation should not be about whether disabled people deserve support.

The conversation should be about how we build a society that values equality, accessibility and inclusion.

Why #ChallengeTheNarrative Matters

This campaign is about changing the conversation.

It is about replacing assumptions with evidence.

Replacing stereotypes with lived experience.

Replacing fear with facts.

Most importantly, it is about ensuring disabled people are heard.

The principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” remains as relevant today as ever. Decisions that affect disabled people’s lives should be informed by disabled people’s voices.

Not by headlines.

Not by myths.

Not by prejudice.

A Call to Action

Every one of us has a role to play.

Challenge misinformation when you see it.

Share accurate information.

Listen to disabled voices.

Question harmful stereotypes.

Promote understanding rather than division.

The future of disability rights will not be shaped by those who remain silent. It will be shaped by those prepared to speak up when misinformation threatens dignity, inclusion and equality.

The conversation must change.

The stigma must end.

The facts must be heard.

Together, let’s continue to #ChallengeTheNarrative.

“The most powerful way to challenge misinformation is to replace it with truth, understanding and lived experience.”

World Suicide Prevention Day reminds us that some of the greatest struggles are often hidden from view. For unpaid carers, those struggles can be relentless.

Across the UK, millions of unpaid carers provide support to family members, partners and friends who are disabled, ill, frail or living with long-term health conditions. They do so out of love, duty and necessity. Yet behind that dedication lies a reality that is rarely discussed openly: the impact caring can have on a person’s mental health.

Many unpaid carers experience exhaustion, isolation, financial hardship and a loss of their own identity. Caring responsibilities do not stop at 5pm. There are no guaranteed breaks, no annual leave and often no opportunity to switch off.

As the years pass, the physical and emotional demands can become overwhelming.

A Hidden Mental Health Challenge

Unpaid carers are often so focused on supporting someone else that their own wellbeing becomes an afterthought.

Many report experiencing:

• Chronic stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Sleep deprivation
• Social isolation
• Financial insecurity
• Feelings of hopelessness and burnout

For some, these pressures can lead to thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Yet because carers are seen as “coping” or “managing”, their struggles frequently go unnoticed. The person asking whether someone else has eaten, taken medication or attended an appointment may be silently fighting their own mental health battle.

The Weight of Responsibility

Many carers describe feeling trapped between their responsibilities and their own needs.

They worry constantly about what might happen if they become ill.

They fear letting down the person they care for.

They experience guilt when asking for help.

Some feel invisible within health and social care systems that depend heavily upon their contribution while providing inadequate support in return.

The result can be a profound sense of loneliness, even when surrounded by people.

We Need To Talk About Suicide

Suicide remains one of society’s most difficult conversations.

For unpaid carers, the stigma can be even greater.

Many fear being judged if they admit they are struggling. Others worry that speaking openly may affect the support arrangements of the person they care for.

But silence helps nobody.

Mental health difficulties and suicidal thoughts are not a sign of weakness. They are often a sign that someone has been carrying too much, for too long, without enough support.

As mental health advocate Michelle Obama has said:

“Asking for help is always a sign of strength.”

That message is just as important for carers as it is for anyone else.

What Needs to Change?

Supporting unpaid carers requires more than warm words.

We need:

• Greater recognition of carers’ mental health needs.
• Better access to respite and replacement care.
• Improved financial support.
• Faster access to mental health services.
• Carer-centred suicide prevention strategies.
• Public awareness campaigns that acknowledge the emotional realities of caring.

Most importantly, we need carers to know that they matter too.

A Message to Unpaid Carers

If you are an unpaid carer and struggling today, please remember this:

You are not failing.

You are not a burden.

You do not have to face everything alone.

The care you provide is valuable, but your life, wellbeing and future are equally important.

As a society, we must stop treating carers as an invisible workforce and start recognising them as people who deserve support, compassion and hope.

This World Suicide Prevention Day, let’s commit to checking in on the carers around us, listening without judgement and ensuring that no carer feels they have to suffer in silence.

Because every life matters. Including the lives of those who spend their days caring for others.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek immediate support from emergency services, your GP, NHS 111, Samaritans on 116 123, or another trusted crisis support service.

Every morning, millions of people wake up and begin work before sunrise. They prepare medication, assist with personal care, organise appointments, provide emotional support, manage finances, coordinate services, and remain on call throughout the day and often throughout the night.

Most of them will never receive a payslip.

They are unpaid carers, and collectively they may represent the largest workforce in the world.

Across every nation, culture and community, unpaid carers provide support to family members, friends and neighbours who are disabled, chronically ill, elderly, experiencing mental ill health, or living with complex needs. Their contribution is woven into the fabric of society, yet it is frequently invisible to decision-makers, employers and even healthcare systems.

If unpaid carers stopped caring tomorrow, hospitals would struggle to discharge patients, social care systems would become overwhelmed, and countless individuals would lose the support that enables them to live with dignity and independence.

The truth is simple: unpaid carers are not a small group on the margins of society. They are a workforce operating in every town, city and village.

The Backbone of Health and Social Care

Governments often describe health and social care services as being under pressure. What is discussed less frequently is the extent to which those services depend upon unpaid carers.

Every hour of unpaid care delivered at home reduces pressure on hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes and community services. Unpaid carers provide practical support, advocacy, emotional care, crisis management and coordination of complex services.

They become nurses without formal training.

They become administrators without administrative support.

They become advocates without professional representation.

They become experts through necessity.

The value of this contribution runs into billions of pounds annually in many countries. Yet while health and social care systems openly acknowledge their reliance on carers, support for carers themselves often remains inadequate.

A Workforce Without Workers’ Rights

Imagine any other workforce being asked to work around the clock, without guaranteed breaks, holiday entitlement, pension contributions or formal employment protections.

Such conditions would be considered unacceptable.

Yet this is the reality for many unpaid carers.

Many experience financial hardship because caring responsibilities limit their ability to work. Others leave employment entirely. Career progression, education, social opportunities and personal wellbeing are often sacrificed to meet caring responsibilities.

The expectation is that carers will simply continue.

But caring is not an unlimited resource.

When carers reach breaking point, the consequences affect not only them but also the people they support and the wider public services that rely upon them.

The Hidden Cost of Caring

The cost of caring extends far beyond finances.

Many carers experience exhaustion, stress, anxiety and isolation. Relationships can become strained. Physical health may deteriorate. Long-term caring responsibilities can reshape every aspect of a person’s life.

Yet carers frequently tell the same story: they are recognised only when something goes wrong.

Too often, support arrives at crisis point rather than through prevention.

A society that depends on unpaid carers cannot afford to treat them as an afterthought.

Recognition Must Lead to Action

Awareness is important, but awareness alone changes nothing.

Recognition must be accompanied by meaningful action.

That means:

• Fair financial support.
• Accessible respite services.
• Flexible employment policies.
• Better identification of carers.
• Stronger rights within health and social care systems.
• Genuine involvement in policy development and decision-making.

Most importantly, it means understanding that unpaid carers are not simply service users. They are partners in care, experts by experience, and a workforce whose contribution underpins society itself.

The Greatest Workforce Nobody Sees

The world’s largest workforce does not gather in office towers or factories.

It works in living rooms, kitchens, hospitals, schools and community settings.

It operates every day of the year.

It saves governments billions.

It improves lives.

It sustains communities.

And yet it remains largely invisible.

The question is not whether unpaid carers deserve recognition.

The question is how much longer society can afford to overlook the workforce that makes everything else possible.

If unpaid carers were no longer there tomorrow, the world would quickly discover just how much it depends on them today.

Disabled people are not a single story. We are millions of stories, different bodies, different minds, different needs, different journeys. And yet, despite the vast diversity within disability, there is a thread that binds us together with remarkable force: unity.

Not unity built on identical experiences.

Not unity built on agreeing about everything.

But unity built on shared truth that every disabled person deserves dignity, safety, autonomy, and respect.

This is what keeps us standing together, no matter what our disability is.

We Face Different Barriers, But the Same System

A wheelchair user navigating inaccessible streets.

A neurodivergent person fighting to be understood.

A chronically ill person battling disbelief.

A Deaf person excluded from communication.

A person with learning disabilities denied agency.

A blind person shut out by inaccessible tech.

Different barriers, but the same root cause: systems designed without us in mind.

That shared struggle creates a shared purpose. It’s why disabled people show up for each other even when our needs differ. We recognise the pattern. We recognise the injustice. And we refuse to let any part of our community be left behind.

Unity Doesn’t Mean Uniformity

Disabled unity is not about pretending our experiences are identical. It’s about recognising that our liberation is interconnected.

When one group wins accessibility, it sets a precedent for others.

When one group challenges stigma, it cracks the wall for everyone.

When one group demands rights, it strengthens the whole movement.

We don’t need the same disability to fight the same fight.

We Lift Each Other Up

Disabled people have always been each other’s safety net:

• Sharing hacks, tips, and lived wisdom
• Translating experiences across conditions
• Amplifying voices that are ignored
• Challenging ableism wherever it appears
• Showing up in protests, assemblies, and campaigns
• Building community where society builds barriers

This unity is not theoretical, it’s practical, emotional, and deeply human.

Why Unity Matters Now More Than Ever

In a world where disabled people are often pitted against each other for limited support, limited funding, limited recognition, unity becomes an act of resistance.

Because when we stand together:

• We are harder to ignore
• We are harder to divide
• We are harder to silence
• We are harder to dismiss as “isolated cases”

Unity turns individual struggles into a collective movement.

A Community Built on Pride, Not Pity

Disabled unity is rooted in pride, pride in survival, pride in resilience, pride in refusing to be defined by what society thinks we lack.

It’s rooted in the understanding that disability is not a tragedy.

Isolation is the tragedy.

Exclusion is the tragedy.

Injustice is the tragedy.

And unity is how we fight back.

No Matter the Disability, We Move Forward Together

Whether visible or invisible, lifelong or acquired, physical or cognitive, fluctuating or constant, disability is diverse. But our commitment to each other is unwavering.

We remain united because:

• Our rights are shared
• Our struggles are connected
• Our victories ripple outward
• Our community is stronger together

Disabled people have never needed sameness to stand side by side.

We only need solidarity, and we have that in abundance.

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Over recent weeks, public debate has centred on the Welsh Government’s “first 100 days”, a political tradition used to demonstrate intent, signal priorities, and present early delivery. Statements are issued, commitments are highlighted, and momentum is framed through ministerial announcements.

But for unpaid carers, one hundred days is not a political milestone.
It is a lived reality.

It is one hundred days of disrupted sleep, deteriorating health, lost income, delayed assessments, and fragmented services. It is one hundred days of holding together the gaps in health and social care that statutory systems have not yet addressed. While government measures progress in headlines, carers measure it in exhaustion.

One hundred days of political delivery is not the same as one hundred days of caring. Government can choose its priorities. Carers cannot choose their responsibilities.

This blog speaks to the hundred days that do not appear in press releases, the hundred days lived by carers across Wales, whose labour underpins the nation’s care infrastructure but remains structurally unsupported.

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The Weight of the First Hundred Days

The early stretch of caring is often the hardest. It is the period where crisis becomes routine, where shock becomes responsibility, and where the world quietly shifts beneath your feet.

In the first hundred days, carers learn:

• New systems – navigating assessments, referrals, eligibility tests, and forms that assume time, clarity, and capacity.
• New identities – becoming “the carer” even when the role was never chosen.
• New limits – discovering how far the body and mind can stretch before they begin to fray.

These days are not framed by gratitude or recognition. They are shaped by necessity.

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The Invisible Labour Behind Every Day

Across one hundred days, unpaid carers perform thousands of tasks that rarely appear in policy papers or public conversations:

• Medication management – timing, dosage, side‑effects, monitoring.
• Personal care – intimate, exhausting, and often unsupported.
• Advocacy – challenging decisions, correcting errors, ensuring dignity.
• Emotional regulation – staying calm when the situation is anything but.

This labour keeps people alive, stable, and safe. Yet it remains largely unseen.

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The Systemic Reality: 100 Days Without Rights

One hundred days of caring is also one hundred days of:

• fighting for recognition
• navigating fragmented services
• absorbing financial loss
• sacrificing health
• and being labelled “informal” despite performing essential, skilled work

The system continues to treat unpaid carers as an infinite resource, assuming capacity, resilience, and availability without providing the rights or support that match the scale of their contribution.

Caring is not free.
It is subsidised by the carer’s life.

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A Direct Message to Welsh Ministers

To Ministers across the Welsh Government, the first hundred days of a new administration are an opportunity to demonstrate intent, set direction, and build trust. They are used to signal priorities and highlight early action.

But unpaid carers do not experience your first hundred days through political framing. They experience them through the practical consequences of policy decisions, or the absence of them.

For carers, the first hundred days have meant waiting for assessments, navigating inconsistent support, absorbing financial strain, and continuing to provide essential care without essential rights. These realities are daily, measurable, and consequential.

When government speaks of progress, carers ask:
Has anything changed in our lived experience?

If the answer is not yet, then the first hundred days must be treated not as a milestone achieved, but as a warning signal.

Carers are not a peripheral stakeholder group.
They are the backbone of Wales’ care infrastructure.

The next hundred days must deliver:

• Carers’ rights as a foundation, not an aspiration
• Lived experience embedded in every reform
• Financial impact addressed with urgency
• Consistency across local authorities so support is not determined by postcode
• Accountability strengthened for delivery, not only strategy

Carers have done their part.
Now government must do theirs.

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One hundred days have passed, and unpaid carers across Wales have delivered more in that time than any political programme could claim. They have stabilised crises, held lives together, and carried responsibilities the system still fails to recognise.

As government marks its first hundred days with statements of intent, carers mark theirs with evidence, evidence that support remains inconsistent, rights remain absent, and reform remains too slow for the pace of their reality.

The next hundred days cannot repeat the last.
They must deliver structural change, enforce accountability, and place unpaid carers at the centre of Wales’ care strategy, not at its margins.

The era of symbolic commitments is over.
What matters now is action, visible, measurable, and felt in the daily lives of the people who keep Wales caring.

For years, politicians have promised that the era of spiralling energy bills would come to an end. Yet today, as Ofgem prepares to announce a 4% increase to the energy price cap, households across the UK are bracing for another winter defined not by comfort or security, but by fear. According to Cornwall Insight, this latest rise will push gas and electricity prices to their highest levels in three years. For millions, the crisis is not easing, it is deepening.

The phrase #HeatOrEat was once a warning. It has now become a lived reality.

A Winter of Impossible Choices

Every winter, frontline organisations hear the same stories:

Parents skipping meals so their children can stay warm.

Older people rationing heating to one room.

Disabled people forced to choose between running essential medical equipment and buying groceries.

Carers cutting back on their own needs to keep the person they support safe.

These are not isolated cases. They are symptoms of a system that has normalised hardship.

Energy is not a luxury. It is a basic requirement for health, dignity, and survival. Yet households are being pushed into decisions that no one in a wealthy nation should ever face.

Record Profits, Rising Bills

The injustice is stark. While families brace for higher bills, major energy and oil companies continue to report enormous profits. Shareholders benefit. Executives benefit. The market benefits.

The public does not.

The gap between corporate profit and public suffering has become impossible to justify. It is not caused by individual behaviour or household wastefulness. It is the result of policy choices, choices that can be changed.

The Case for a Windfall Tax

A windfall tax on excessive energy company profits is not radical. It is responsible governance. It is a recognition that when essential services become unaffordable, intervention is not optional, it is necessary.

A targeted windfall tax would:

• Reinvest profit taken from crisis conditions back into the public good
• Reduce pressure on household bills
• Support long‑term investment in affordable, sustainable energy
• Demonstrate that government is willing to act decisively in the public interest

The public cannot absorb another winter of rising costs while corporations accumulate wealth at unprecedented levels.

Leadership Must Step Up

Local leaders have a role to play too.

Andy Burnham this is the moment to step forward.

Champion a windfall tax. Push for urgent action to bring down the cost of energy. Use your platform to ensure that the voices of those living in cold homes, damp flats, and impossible circumstances are not ignored.

People need leadership that recognises the scale of the crisis and refuses to accept it as inevitable.

A Crisis We Can End

The #HeatOrEat dilemma is not a natural disaster. It is a political and economic failure, one that can be corrected with courage, fairness, and urgency.

No one should have to choose between heating their home and feeding their family in 2026.

No one should be punished for simply trying to survive.

And no one should be left behind while profits soar.

This winter, the question is not whether people will struggle. They already are.

The question is whether leaders will act.

Every functioning society depends on care. It is the quiet, continuous labour that sustains health, dignity, and daily life. Yet the majority of that care, supporting disabled people, older relatives, partners with chronic illness, children with complex needs is provided not by paid professionals, but by unpaid carers. They are the backbone of social care, the hidden workforce without whom the system would collapse.

Unpaid care is not charity.

It is not a lifestyle choice.

It is a structural pillar of society.

The Scale of Unpaid Care

Across the UK, around 8.9 million people provide unpaid care. That’s one in six adults, more than the population of London. The economic value of their contribution is estimated at £184 billion a year, exceeding the entire NHS budget. This figure represents the cost society would bear if every unpaid carer stopped tomorrow.

Behind these numbers are people balancing work, family, and relentless responsibility. They are the reason hospitals discharge patients safely, the reason social care gaps don’t become crises, and the reason countless individuals can live at home rather than in institutions.

The Moral and Economic Foundation of Social Care

Unpaid care is the unacknowledged infrastructure that keeps health and social care systems functioning. Every policy, every service, every budget line assumes its existence. Without unpaid carers:

• Hospitals would face mass readmissions.
• Residential care demand would surge beyond capacity.
• Local authorities would face financial collapse.
• The workforce would shrink as millions left employment to fill the gap.

In short, the economy would stall, and the social care system would implode.

The Human Value of Care

Beyond economics, unpaid care represents the moral fabric of society, the principle that people matter beyond their productivity. It embodies compassion, solidarity, and interdependence. When unpaid carers support loved ones, they uphold values that define a humane society: dignity, empathy, and collective responsibility.

But moral value must translate into material recognition. A society that relies on unpaid care must also invest in it, through financial support, respite, flexible employment, and accessible services.

The Cost of Ignoring Unpaid Carers

When unpaid carers are undervalued, the consequences ripple across every sector:

• Health impacts: Chronic stress, exhaustion, and deteriorating physical and mental health.
• Economic impacts: Lost productivity, reduced workforce participation, and long‑term poverty.
• Social impacts: Isolation, inequality, and generational strain.

Ignoring unpaid carers is not just unjust, it is unsustainable. The system cannot function if its foundation is eroding.

Recognition Is Not Enough – Action Is Required

Recognition campaigns and awareness weeks are important, but they are not solutions. True recognition means structural inclusion:

• Carers identified automatically in health and education systems.
• Financial support reflecting the real cost of caring.
• Employment policies that protect carers’ rights.
• Representation of carers at decision making level.

Unpaid care must be treated as essential infrastructure, planned for, funded, and protected.

Unpaid Care Is a Social Justice Issue

Unpaid care is not distributed evenly. It falls hardest on women, disabled people, those in poverty, and marginalised communities. These inequalities deepen when support systems fail. Addressing unpaid care is therefore not only a matter of compassion, it is a matter of justice.

A fair society recognises that care is collective responsibility, not private burden.

Conclusion

Unpaid carers hold society together. They sustain lives, prevent crises, and save billions. Yet they do so at immense personal cost, often without recognition or support.

If the UK is serious about building a fair, resilient society, it must start by valuing unpaid care as the essential infrastructure it is.

Because when unpaid carers are supported, everyone benefits, families, communities, and the nation itself.