Katherine is Head of Employment at Carers UK where she leads the work of the charity’s business forum, Employers for Carers (EfC). EfC is a growing service for employers committed to supporting the 1 in 7 workers who are caring for older, ill or disabled relatives or friends. Sustained by the specialist knowledge of Carers UK, it provides practical help for employers and promotes the business benefits of supporting carers.
Formally launched as a membership forum in 2009 (after many years of earlier work supported by the European Social Fund), Employers for Carers now has over 160 organisations in membership covering at least 2 million employees. The forum is continuing to grow and, with an increasing number of global employers in membership, is also attracting interest beyond the UK.
On joining Carers UK in 2007 Katherine worked on the development of EfC and was its initial manager when it launched as an employer membership forum in 2009. She was co-Secretariat to the EfC/Carers UK/HM Government Carers in Employment Task and Finish Group (2012-2013) which published a definitive report on the business benefits of supporting working carers together with a European evidence paper on the development of personal and household services within EU Member States. She served on the Board of Eurocarers from 2014-2016 and currently represents Carers UK on the UK Government’s Flexible Working Task Force.
Katherine’s expertise is in the field of employment and equality (policy and practice) where she has worked across the private, public and voluntary sectors. She has a long-standing interest in caring issues and, prior to her current role at Carers UK, worked at the TUC (Trades Union Congress), Leeds University Business School, in the communications sector and as a freelance equality consultant. At the TUC she was responsible for policy work on women’s employment issues including flexible working and reconciling work and family life and supported the TUC’s work on the ETUC (European Trades Union Confederation)’s Women’s Committee.
