The Legal Challenge

Why Add Your Name to the Legal Challenge?

The National Unpaid Carers Union and Forum are exploring a Group Litigation Order (GLO) to challenge the UK Government’s treatment of unpaid carers. This is not a symbolic gesture – it is a formal legal route that can force change, establish rights, and hold the state to its obligations under domestic and international law.

1. Because Unpaid Carers Are Holding Up the System

Millions of unpaid carers provide essential care that the state would otherwise have to fund. Without them, health and social care services would collapse. Yet many carers live in poverty, exhaustion, and fear of what happens if they can no longer cope. Adding your name says clearly: this reliance on unpaid labour without proper protection is no longer acceptable.

2. Because the Law Is on Your Side

The UK has signed up to legal frameworks that recognise and protect carers and disabled people:

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
• European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
• Equality Act 2010 (associative discrimination)
• Care Act 2014 (duties to assess and support carers)
• International Labour Organisation (ILO) labour protections

A GLO asks the courts to examine whether the Government is meeting these obligations. Your signature helps show that the issue is widespread, serious, and demands scrutiny.

3. Because This Is About Basic Fairness

Carers give up income, careers, health, and often their own futures to keep someone else safe. Many receive little or no financial recognition, no guaranteed crisis support, and no clear pathway if they become ill or unable to continue. Signing the wall is a way of saying that carers deserve:

• Financial stability and recognition
• Emergency and crisis pathways when they cannot cope
• Protection of their own rights, health, and family life

4. Because Numbers Matter in Court

A Group Litigation Order is about scale. The more people who visibly support the challenge, the clearer it becomes that this is not an isolated problem but a national, systemic issue. Each name on this wall helps demonstrate that unpaid carers are a real workforce, facing real harm, and that the courts should take notice.

5. Because This Is a Safe First Step

Adding your name here does not commit you to being a claimant or to any future legal process. It is a public statement of support for the exploration of a national legal challenge. It shows that you believe unpaid carers deserve lawful, fair, and sustainable treatment – and that the Government should be held to the standards it has already agreed to.

Add Your Name

If you believe unpaid carers deserve legal protection, recognition, and fair treatment, click the + button on the wall and add your name. Your signature will appear instantly and become part of a visible record of support for change.