• Luke encourages the government to follow the lead of Plymouth Schools in counting the number of students that provide care.
• “Young carers are doing a phenomenal job; we need to do more for them”

In a Westminster Hall debate on social care funding, Luke spoke out at the state of children’s social care in Plymouth. Plymouth’s children social care is in a critical condition. This is not only due to austerity which has led to a 60% cut in Plymouth City Council’s budget; but also due to the number of exceptionally expensive cases Plymouth City Council have faced resulting in severe budget pressures.

Luke called on the government to use the Bellwin scheme to provide funding for children’s social care in those exceptional cases. The Bellwin scheme is a government financial programme that reimburses funding to local authorities to those costs incurred during a national disaster.

Luke further used his time in the debate to press the government for more support for young carers. In Plymouth and around the country, young carers are providing thousands of hours’ worth of care for family members and loved ones:

“Plymouth’s children social care is on its knees. Young carers are picking up the pieces of years of underfunding. These young carers are doing a phenomenal job caring for loved ones. I think we need the Government to look at further wraparound care for these incredible young people.

 

“I would like the government to follow the lead of Plymouth schools and roll out a nationwide plan for schools to count the number of students that are providing care. The results in Plymouth are frankly scary and more work needs to be done.”