USDAW joined forces with more than 90 charities and campaign groups today to demand better financial support for unpaid carers so they can “escape poverty.”

The retail union said that the massive coalition, which includes Age UK, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Oxfam GB, will also call for changes to enable unpaid carers to combine salaried work with their essential responsibilities to loved ones. 

Carers UK, which has also signed up, estimates that there are 11.5 million people across Britain who give free support to someone who is elderly, seriously ill or disabled, saving Whitehall an estimated £193 billion a year.