Rebuilding trust with carers and implementing a systemic approach to vulnerability in the welfare benefits system
Development of this Roadmap
This roadmap builds on research evidence, engagement with stakeholders and the lived experiences of carers. Centre for Care research included in-depth qualitative research with:
- A diverse sample of 45 unpaid carers from England and Wales who provide regular support to a family member or friend who is disabled, living with a long-term health condition, or age-related care needs, exploring the risks to their financial wellbeing as a result of their caring role.
- A sample of 20 welfare rights advisers from organisations providing benefits advice and support to unpaid carers across England and Wales.
This research was shared and discussed with a group of stakeholders at a policy breakfast event held in June 2026. This Roadmap incorporates their ideas and expertise. This included carers’ organisations, disability rights organisations, Parliamentarians, civil servants and others committed to a better social security system for carers and the people they support.
Click here to read the full document.
Express your support for this Roadmap and add your name to the list of those calling for change
(See all endorsements below the form)
If you or your organisation would like to join them in endorsing this Roadmap and our call for DWP to adopt a social model of vulnerability, please email centreforcare@sheffield.ac.uk or complete the sign-up form below:
Edorsements
This Roadmap is endorsed by the following individuals and organisations:
Unpaid family carers provide amazing support to their loved ones and deserve to be treated fairly by the state. The scandal of Carers Allowance overpayments left many carers in debt, some were criminalised, and many more were fearful of claiming. The independent review by Liz Sayce highlighted a culture within DWP which allowed these systemic failures to persist. This new report by the Centre for Care highlights how structures and circumstances can make unpaid carers vulnerable and proposes new ways of thinking about vulnerability. I hope this report and its recommendations are heeded by DWP as it strives to put right the wrongs of the past and change from a culture of distrust to one which is more empathic.
Anna Dixon MP
Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) strongly supports the Centre for Care’s Roadmap and its call for a more systemic approach to vulnerability within the welfare benefits system.
Vulnerability Registration Service
We particularly welcome the recognition that vulnerability is not simply a characteristic of an individual, but can be created or intensified through the systems, processes and services that people are required to navigate.
For unpaid carers, this can mean managing complex administrative processes while also dealing with caring responsibilities, financial pressures, health issues, disability, bereavement and other significant life events. Unnecessary repetition, complexity and poor communication can compound these challenges and create avoidable harm.
We believe that people should not have to repeatedly explain their circumstances simply to receive fair and appropriate support.
This is why VRS exists. We provide a mechanism through which individuals can share their circumstances and support needs, with their permission, so that participating organisations can better understand their situation and respond appropriately.
However, sharing information is only part of the solution. Organisations must also be willing and equipped to use that information to understand the people they serve and provide appropriate support.
We therefore strongly support the Roadmap’s emphasis on reducing unnecessary repetition, burden and intrusion, and on designing services around people’s real circumstances and needs.
People should not have to carry the burden of navigating fragmented systems simply because organisations do not have the information they need to understand their circumstances.
VRS supports the Centre for Care’s call for a system that places greater responsibility on organisations to understand vulnerability, prevent avoidable harm and ensure people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.
Johnny Timpson OBE
Baroness Lister of Burtersett
Ann Davies AS/MP
