Tipping point: when unpaid carers can no longer combine caring with paid employment

Last month, Carers UK published a major new report ‘The tipping point: when unpaid carers can no longer combine caring with paid employment’, supported by Standard Life.

Drawing on survey responses from over 10,500 carers across the UK, as well as in-depth interviews with carers, the report provides a rich picture of the intersecting pressures that can push carers out of the labour market. It also explores the practical support that can prevent carers from giving up work to care.

Concerningly, the research found that nearly half of working carers (47%) in the UK are considering reducing their hours or leaving work altogether.

Many carers told us they didn’t want to leave work – but felt they had no choice when they faced a combination of pressures:

• Workplaces that don’t adapt: Many carers lack flexible working or supportive policies. Almost half (48%) of carers who had given up work to care did not feel comfortable discussing caring with their manager, and 43% said their employer did not have policies in place to support carers
• Gaps in social care and support services: The most commonly cited factor that could have kept carers in work was access to affordable, reliable social care services.
• Deteriorating health: 77% of carers who had given up work said they went to work while unwell, and 71% felt stressed or anxious while working.
• Caring needs increasing over time: As conditions worsen or responsibilities grow, work becomes harder to sustain.

Carers UK believe that unless urgent action is taken, an increasing number of unpaid carers in the UK will reach this tipping point and be left with little choice but to give up paid employment – affecting their income, pension, ability to manage financially in the future, and their health and wellbeing. Preventing carers from reaching this tipping point requires coordinated action across Government, employers, and public services, including the NHS and social care.

Carers UK is calling for:

1. A strategic approach to supporting carers through a fully funded, cross-Government Carers Action Plan that prioritises keeping unpaid carers in work and recognises the economic cost of inaction.
2. A statutory right to paid Carer’s Leave, giving carers a realistic chance of staying in employment.
3. Strengthened employer support, including flexible working, dedicated carer policies, manager training, and workplace support networks.
4. Investment in social care and NHS support including sustainable Government funding for social care, improved access to replacement care, and stronger NHS recognition and support for carers to protect their own health.
5. Improved financial support for carers with reforms to Carer’s Allowance and the wider benefits system to reduce financial hardship, support carers to stay in employment where possible, and improve long-term financial security.

You can download the full report and recommendations at https://www.carersuk.org/reports/the-tipping-point-when-unpaid-carers-can-no-longer-combine-work-and-care/. Please contact Melanie Crew, Research and Policy Manager at Carers UK (melanie.crew@carersuk.org), if you have any questions about the research.