The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

I’m sure everyone knows this preamble by now, emblazoned on the back of our membership cards. I want to focus on the concept of liberty and how it doesn’t apply to carers.

Liberty and carers

My perspective on liberty encompasses the relationship between individuals and the state.

Society cannot function without individualism and the state working hand in hand. Individual rights are strengthened by legislation, while the state is held in check by individuals. While I believe the state has a vital role in society through light economic regulation, welfare programmes, public education, healthcare, and the state pension, its failure to support carers should be a source of shame.

I’ve written at length via Lib Dem Voice about my mental health challenges and how I became my grandfather’s carer while I was out of work. I don’t regret being his full-time carer for a moment, as I have a deep belief in community and family coming together to care for the most vulnerable. Recognising the vital role carers play should make us feel grateful and motivated to improve support, yet the state’s support is laughable. Currently, the Carer’s Allowance is £83.30 a week. A carer is allowed to make, after deductions, £196 a week; that’s only £784 a month.

The best case scenario for a carer is they can make up to a combined £1,117.20 a month, but in most cases – like my mother’s – the option to work a job outside of caring simply isn’t possible due to the needs of those who require caring. This means carers often have to try to survive on just £333.20 a month, which is barely enough to cover basic expenses and meet the needs of both the carer and the person cared for.

Where is the dignity for carers? Where is their liberty? As of 2023, Carers UK and the University of Sheffield documented that carers save the government £162 billion per year. The government has announced it has accepted key findings from the Independent Sayce Review, including the potential cancellation or repayment of overpayment fines. While a welcome gesture, it does not meaningfully improve the lives of carers and those they care for. 

The Carer’s top-up

An idea I believe the Lib Dems must adopt to improve carers’ allowance is the “Carer’s top-up” and broader concept of a “Guaranteed Minimum Income” put forward by the Centre Think Tank.

They advocate for a Guaranteed Minimum Income in place of multiple benefits, including Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support, which reduces by 30p for every £1 earned until an individual earns a living wage. For carers specifically, they would receive a Guaranteed Minimum Income top-up to supplement either their salary or their regular Guaranteed Minimum Income payments, ensuring they earn a living wage.

While I may no longer be a spokesperson for them due to personal circumstances, I remain a member.

Liberty and dignity

Liberty isn’t just the absence of state interference, but the presence of real choices, too. A society that depends on carers to hold families, communities and public services together, yet leaves them impoverished and constrained, is not one that honours liberty; it exploits sacrifice. If we genuinely believe that no one should be enslaved by poverty, then carers cannot remain trapped between duty and deprivation. Schemes like the carer’s top-up provide meaningful steps toward restoring liberty to those who give up so much of their own to preserve it for others.

Until carers can live with security, dignity and genuine freedom, our commitment to liberty remains incomplete.

* Jack Meredith is a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and an active campaigner and canvasser with Swansea and Gower Liberal Democrats. His writing focuses on democratic reform, social justice, trade unionism, economic democracy, and the institutional foundations of effective government. He has written for the Fabians, Lib Dem Voice, Liberator, Nation Cymru, Bylines Cymru, and Centre Think Tank.