Unpaid Carers Bi-Monthly Lunch and Learn Webinar: Mobilise SMS Identification & Carer's Assessment

Hidden Carers in Plain Sight

Unpaid carers in England prop up the health and social care system, delivering care valued at roughly £162-184 billion annually—comparable to the NHS's entire budget. Yet many go unrecognised, particularly in primary care settings where identification has historically been patchy and reactive.

Momentum has built since the 2025 publication of the government's 'Fit for the Future' 10-year health plan for England. The plan emphasises proactive digital tools, including expanding the NHS App to help manage care for relatives and explicitly capture carer involvement in planning. By 2028, it aims to make the app a central front door to NHS services, with features for carers to coordinate support and ensure their responsibilities are documented.

This urgency ties into broader adult social care reform pressures. An independent commission chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, launched in early 2025, is set to recommend medium-term changes by 2026 and longer-term ones by 2028, amid warnings that the system leans unsustainably on unpaid carers. Local authorities remain legally obliged under the Care Act 2014 to offer carer's assessments—distinct reviews of how caring impacts the carer's own life and wellbeing—but resource constraints mean many carers wait or never receive adequate follow-up support.

Tools like Mobilise's SMS identification model address part of the gap. By sending targeted text messages from GP practices, it prompts self-identification, boosts engagement, and eases administrative loads on overstretched staff. Similar digital platforms, including AI-driven dynamic assessments, aim to cut waiting times and redirect social workers to complex cases.

The stakes are high. Carers often sacrifice paid work—around 600 people leave employment daily for caring duties—facing health declines, mental strain, and poverty risks. Inaction exacerbates NHS demand, as unsupported carers themselves require more medical intervention. Yet digital solutions carry trade-offs: while efficient for scale, they can alienate older carers or those uncomfortable with technology, as evidenced by complaints about non-replyable NHS texts and complex interfaces.

Tensions persist between efficiency gains and equity. Primary care identification drives better integration with social care, but without sufficient funding for subsequent support, it risks creating demand local authorities cannot meet. The push for better recognition aligns with calls for a national carers strategy, though the current government has deferred this within wider social care reforms.