We are calling the people who shape the lives of unpaid carers: political leaders, NHS chiefs, councils, charities, unions, major employers, and national voices with the power to change the system.

Political leaders who write the laws. NHS chiefs who run the services carers rely on. Council leaders who decide local support. Charity heads who speak for families. Union leaders who fight for rights. Employers who set workplace policies. Public figures who influence national conversation.

We are calling every person with power, responsibility or influence because carers have carried the country alone for too long, and the people who shape the system must finally stand in the room with those who hold it together.

Because unpaid carers have carried the country in silence for decades — and the people with influence must finally face the reality carers live every day, and commit to fixing what has been broken for far too long.

We are calling them because carers deserve more than sympathy; they deserve action. They deserve leaders who will listen, organisations that will change, and a system that recognises their role as essential, not optional. This Assembly is the moment those who shape policy, services and workplaces must step forward, face the truth, and commit to building something better.

Every day, carers hold families together, keep loved ones safe, and save the country billions yet they are left exhausted, invisible and unsupported. The people with power, influence and responsibility must finally confront this reality.

We are calling now because carers cannot wait any longer. The pressures on families, services and communities have reached a breaking point, and the people who shape the system must face that reality today not in another review, another consultation, or another decade.

We are calling now because the Prime Minister has brought forward the Casey Commission report, recognising that the issues facing carers and the services around them can no longer be delayed or ignored. This moment signals a national acknowledgement that the system is struggling and that change must begin immediately.

We are calling now because carers are exhausted, financially stretched, and pushed to the edge by a system that relies on their labour but fails to support their lives. The crisis is already here. The consequences are already visible. The cost of inaction is already being paid by millions of carers behind closed doors.

We are calling now because this is the moment for honesty, responsibility and action. Leaders must step forward, listen directly to carers, and commit to rebuilding the support structures that have been allowed to crumble. The Assembly is not a future ambition — it is the urgent action this moment demands.

The Carers Assembly is for every unpaid carer in the UK — the millions who hold families, communities and public services together through love, duty and necessity. It is for carers who have been unheard, unsupported and overlooked, and for those who have carried the weight of a system that depends on them but rarely sees them.

It is also for carers who have never felt able to be fully open with their employers about how caring shapes their daily lives — the exhaustion, the unpredictability, the emotional strain, the constant balancing act. This Assembly gives carers the space and legitimacy to speak honestly, without fear, and to help employers understand the reality behind the word “carer”.

And it is for the leaders who shape carers’ lives: the policymakers who write the laws, the NHS and council leaders who run essential services, the employers who set workplace conditions, the charities and unions who speak for families, and the public figures who influence national conversation.

This Assembly is for everyone with a stake in the future of care — those who live it, those who rely on it, and those who have the power to change it. It is a space where carers and leaders stand together, confront the truth, and begin building a future where no carer is left invisible, unsupported or alone.

A national reckoning. A shared plan. A promise that carers will never again be invisible, unheard, or left to carry the weight alone.

What must happen now is honesty, accountability and action. Leaders must listen directly to carers, understand the reality behind the statistics, and work with us to design a future where no carer is left exhausted, invisible or unsupported. This Assembly is the moment to move from words to change — and every invited leader has a responsibility to be part of that change.

Now, those in positions of power must step into the room and face what unpaid carers have been living through for years. We need a national commitment to rebuild the support structures carers rely on, to fix the policies that fail them, and to create workplaces, services and communities that finally recognise their role.