Ms Catherine Cox:

-----while I have the microphone. All the carers who have spoken have made the point that they have to fight for everything, from a diagnosis to an intervention and to therapies. A parent was on the news last night. She has been told that she will have to wait five years before she can see a dietary specialist for her son. To look at carer's allowance would be to remove one battle from families who are struggling emotionally and financially.

I did a radio interview earlier this morning. The presenter asked me, "Do you think that everybody should get carer's allowance? If someone has money in their bank, really should they get it?". What I should have said to him was that is like me saying to him, "So, would you come into work every day, work every day and do 40 hours per week, or 160 hours per week in the case of a carer, and expect not to be paid for that because you have a bit of money in the bank or because your husband or partner works?". That is what carers are doing. They are working 24-7. The three carers who are here today are doing that every day. They do it out of the love for the person they are caring for. Yet, as a society and as a Government, we take that for granted. We need to step up and to support them. No carer should have to do this on their own, and thousands of them are doing that.