“Powerful protest, powerful message” – Jess Brown-Fuller MP secures ministerial commitment to support unpaid carers

Liberal Democrat MP for Chichester, Jess Brown-Fuller, has secured a public commitment from the Secretary of State for Health during Health and Social Care Questions in the House of Commons, in support of the nation’s unpaid carers.

The intervention comes on the same day that carers across the country launched a powerful “protest from home” alongside the Carers Trust. Their faces were projected on large screens in Parliament Square – a moving display that made visible the invisible, and highlighted the reality that many carers are simply unable to leave their loved ones to protest in person.

Jess Brown-Fuller raised concerns in the Commons over the Government’s failure to meet its own deadline to review Carer’s Allowance, and called for a statutory guarantee for respite care to give carers the break they so desperately need.

“The Government’s pledge for the Carer’s Allowance review to report by early summer looks set to be broken,” Jess said in the chamber. “Can the Secretary of State today commit to ending the cliff edge for Carer’s Allowance and to introducing a statutory guarantee for respite care, so that carers know he is listening?”

In a welcome response, Health Secretary Wes Streeting thanked Jess for raising the issue and acknowledged the protest, committing to raise her concerns with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He gave an assurance that the Government is “working as fast as we can” to deliver for carers and recognised the protest as a powerful reminder of the voices often unheard in Westminster.

Jess Brown-Fuller MP said:

“Unpaid carers are the backbone of our health and care system – propping it up through sheer determination, love and exhaustion. Yet they’re being let down time and time again by a system that offers them little in return.

“Today, they found a way to be seen. Projecting their faces onto Parliament may have looked like a protest – but it was really a cry for help. Carers deserve more than warm words. They deserve action.

“I’m glad the Health Secretary acknowledged this and agreed to raise the issue at Cabinet level. I will hold the Government to account every step of the way.”

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to the cliff-edge in Carer’s Allowance – which sees carers lose all financial support the moment they earn just £1 over the threshold – and for a statutory right to regular respite care so that no carer is left to suffer in silence.