New survey shows carers across Scotland need a fair deal
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said people can vote to fix care and give carers a fair deal this Thursday, after a new survey showed how family carers in every part of Scotland say that they are struggling.
Carers across Scotland were asked whether they "feel supported to continue in their caring role". The official government-run survey showed that only 31% of carers said they feel supported to continue caring. This includes:
- Just 26% of carers in East Dunbartonshire
- 30% in Fife
- 31% in Edinburgh
- 32% in the Highlands
- 34% in Orkney
- 46% in Shetland
Alex Cole-Hamilton said:
"Carers do so much heavy lifting but they are being taken for granted and are struggling to make ends meet.
"Ed Davey has spoken movingly about his own experience as a carer, first as a teenager nursing his mum during her long battle against bone cancer and now as a father for his disabled son John.
"I'm so proud that we have put care at the very heart of our campaign.
"Only the Liberal Democrats will give family carers a fair deal by increasing Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment by £1,040 a year. We will also expand it to more carers, remove the unfair earnings cliff-edge, stop pursuing carers for old overpayments, introduce paid carer's leave and make caring a protected characteristic.
"Every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats at this election is a vote to elect a strong local champion focused on giving our nation's carers a fair deal. In seats across the country, from Milngavie to Mallaig, from Cupar to Cape Wrath, from Cramond to Kirkwall, it's only the Scottish Liberal Democrats who can beat the SNP and fix care."