Carers’ employment rights today, tomorrow and in the future – Report
Carers UK have launched a report for Carers Rights Day, which looks at the impact of juggling work with care – plus the rights that carers have now, new changes to the law and what they believe would best support carers in employment in the future.
Key Points from the report suggest that millions of people in the UK are juggling paid employment with their caring responsibilities.
The recent ONS Census 2021 in England and Wales found that there are just under 2.5 million carers in employment (excluding full-time students)1 – 9% of the total number of people in employment.
Of those, 2 million are employees, and 445,000 are self-employed. Many people are combining employment with high levels of care: over 400,000 people in paid employment are also providing over 50 hours of care per week.
Other research suggests that the number of carers in paid employment could be even higher. Carers UK research in 2019 found that there could be around 4.87 million people juggling work and care: 1 in 7 of all workers
As the population ages, more people will be combining caring with paid employment. Research by the Centre for Care found that every year between 2010-2020, more than 1.9 million people in paid employment become unpaid carers – over 5,000 people every day
- 9% of people in employment are also unpaid carers, according to Carers UK analysis of ONS Census 2021 data in England and Wales
- 50:50 chance a woman will have provided care by the time they are 46
- 98,000 young adult employees (16-24) in England and Wales are also providing care
- 2.6million people have given up work to care
- 2 million people have reduced their working hours to care
- 57% of carers who are employees said an understanding line manager is helpful
- 40% of carers told us that they had given up work to provide unpaid care
- 22% of carers had reduced their working hours because of their caring role
- 33% of carers who had given up work or reduced working hours to care said paid Carer’s Leave would help them return to work or increase their hours
