Voting for Paid Carers Leave

On Tuesday, I voted in favour of an Amendment to the Employments Rights Bill that would give carers paid leave.

The Liberal Democrats tabled an Amendment to the Employment Rights Bill that would have made Carer’s Leave a paid entitlement. The vote did not pass and was voted for 95 ayes and 323 noes.

There are currently 5.8 million people in the UK that are carers, with 12,000 people becoming carers every day.

I was disappointed to see that the Government are not supportive of paid Carer’s Leave. Every day, 600 carers leave their full-time employment as they are unable to juggle their work and caring responsibilities. A further 1.2 million carers are living in poverty, with 400,000 in deep poverty.

Introducing paid carers leave would help alleviate some of the financial burden as well as allow more carers to stay in employment. I sincerely hope the Government will review this and give carers the paid leave they rightfully deserve.