UNPAID carers in Wales will continue to receive additional support to take well-earned breaks from their caring role, Minister for Children and Social Care, Dawn Bowden has said.

The Minister has also confirmed funding is being made available to continue support for carers on low incomes to buy essential items.

The Short Breaks Scheme and Carers Support Fund will receive £3.5m and £1.75m respectively for 2025/26 from the Welsh Government.

These schemes are in addition to the duties that local authorities are under to provide appropriate support for carers.

The Short Breaks Scheme is on track to deliver, or exceed, the target of 30,000 additional short break opportunities by March 2025. Its extension will continue to help unpaid carers in Wales take breaks from their responsibilities to support their wellbeing.

The funding can be used, for example, for short holidays, activity days and cinema trips. It can also support carers in pursuing a hobby or sport.

Recent findings suggest only 14% of the adult carers who have benefitted from the scheme had also accessed a break from elsewhere in the last 12 months, demonstrating the crucial role it is playing. 80% of those benefitting from the scheme are providing more than 50 hours of care a week.

The Carers Support Fund provides emergency financial support for unpaid carers of all ages on low incomes to pay for essential items. This could be food, a household item or a utility bill. In addition, the fund also provides information to help people manage finances and ensure they are claiming all benefits and entitlements.

Almost half of unpaid carers accessing the schemes in the past three years were not previously known to services and so the schemes show the significant added value as a gateway to other forms of support.

Minister for Children and Social Care, Dawn Bowden said: “Unpaid carers play a crucial role in providing care for their family members and friends.

“I am delighted we are providing funding for the coming year to help more unpaid carers take short breaks as there is good evidence they can have a big impact on wellbeing.

“We also know many unpaid carers experience financial pressures because of their caring role and the Carers Support Fund will continue to provide crucial additional assistance for carers on low incomes.”

Carers Trust Director for Wales, Kate Cubbage, said: “We’ve heard from thousands of unpaid carers that the Short Breaks Scheme has given them their first access to a break from caring and that grants through the Carers Support Fund have been essential to keep food on the table and heat in their homes.

“These programmes are needed now more than ever, as costs rise and our partners in health and social care face increasing pressures. Our colleagues in statutory services tell us that modest investments in these transformative programmes make a difference to sustaining carers in their vital caring role and prevent the need for further intervention from acute services.

“As the National Coordinating Body for the Short Breaks Scheme and the organisation leading delivery of the Carers Support Fund, Carers Trust welcomes Welsh Government’s commitment to safeguarding these vital programmes with an assurance of funding for another year.

“This funding will enable local carer organisations and delivery partners to reach thousands more unpaid carers with a much-needed break from caring and with protection from the sharpest end of poverty into 2026.”

SIMON HART, the former MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, is set to lift the lid on the political turmoil of recent years with his new book, Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip, due for release on February 27, 2025.

The memoir promises a rare, behind-the-scenes account of life inside the Conservative government during one of its most chaotic periods. Hart, who served as Chief Whip under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, provides an unfiltered look at the party’s internal struggles, resignations, and public controversies that rocked Westminster between 2019 and 2024.

From power to crisis

Having first been elected in 2010, Hart represented South Pembrokeshire and parts of Carmarthenshire for over a decade before boundary changes saw him lose his seat in 2024. His political career saw him rise to the role of Secretary of State for Wales under Boris Johnson before taking on the crucial but often misunderstood position of Chief Whip in Sunak’s government.

In Ungovernable, Hart describes how he witnessed the Conservative Party unravel from a position of strength to electoral vulnerability. He provides firsthand insight into the party’s inner workings, dealing with rebellious MPs, scandal-ridden colleagues, and the battle to maintain discipline within the government.

Westminster’s scandals and secrets

Among the most revealing aspects of the book are Hart’s accounts of the defection of Conservative MPs to Labour, the fallout from Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership, and the struggles to manage a party fractured by Brexit, infighting, and scandal. He details the dramatic moments that saw fifteen Tory MPs leave their seats under his tenure, including high-profile figures such as Nadine Dorries, whose controversial resignation caused months of political tension, and Matt Hancock, suspended after his infamous appearance on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

Hart also delves into Lee Anderson’s suspension over inflammatory remarks about the London Mayor, and the internal battles over government policies, leadership, and media spin.

Praise for an insider’s account

The book has already attracted attention from senior political figures. Rory Stewart, former MP and political commentator, described it as “a remarkable insight into a critical moment”, while Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, praised Hart’s blunt honesty, calling it a “balls-up-to-break-down account of how the Tories managed to fall flat on their faces”.

For Pembrokeshire readers, Ungovernable provides a unique perspective from a local politician who operated at the very heart of Westminster’s power struggles. Whether a supporter or critic of his time in office, Simon Hart’s memoir promises to be a fascinating and controversial account of one of the most dramatic chapters in modern British politics.

THE PORT of Milford Haven has issued a warning regarding a wall collapse on the hot water slip access to Milford Beach.

Residents and visitors are urged to stay clear of the affected area and avoid using this access route while investigations and repairs are carried out.

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