Information
This page is split into sections: Introduction, information for carers, information for business, research and statistics, and useful resources.
At any one time, 1 in 9 people who work will be caring for someone.
Many of us, when we start caring for someone, don’t think of ourselves as a carer, we are simply doing what comes naturally. Sometimes caring can be short term – perhaps when a loved one needs help to recover after an operation, or is suffering from severe depression. In other cases it may be long term and the amount of caring progressively increases. There are particular challenges when the carer is also working.
Working and caring can be a balancing act for many carers and as a result 1 in 5 carers give up work to care full time. This is a growing concern as the number of carers in the UK is set to grow from 6 million to 9 million in the next 30 years. Businesses often lose experienced staff as most carers fall into the 45-64 age bracket at the peak of their careers.
(Figures from: Employers for Carers website 2016).
The opportunity to work is an important but often taken for granted part of our lives. It provides financial stability, positive mental health and opportunities to socialise. For carers, work can mean more to them, it is a lifetime.
Being a carer can be like having a whole other job on top of an employee’s paid role and there are often a wide range of challenges for them:
- Difficulties managing work and their caring role
- No breaks or time off from caring
- Anxiety or depression
- Health problems, particularly bad backs
- Poor emotional and physical well-being
- Loss of identity
- Financial worries
- A sense of hopelessness and isolation
Information for Carers
Caring can bring all kinds of challenges. Having the right information at the right time can make a huge difference when you are looking after someone.
Getting support outside the work place
At some point you may need to consider getting practical help to support you in your caring role. There are a number of options, which include:
- Asking family, friends or neighbours to help out (either paid or unpaid)
- Using local voluntary and community organisations (like ourselves)
- Using a care agency (for example, to help the person you care for get up, have a shower and dressed in the morning).
- Using assisted living technologies to help monitor/improve the well-being of the person you care for whilst you are at work
- Consider respite options whilst you have a break from your caring role
Most of these options will have to be paid for and the amount you will need to pay may be determined by your income or that of the person you care for.
You and your employer
Remember, it is up to you whether you tell your employer about your situation.
Before you speak to your employer, find out about their policy for supporting carers. You could do this by checking your staff handbook, intranet or speaking to your manager or Human Resources (HR) department.
In the workplace carers have rights such as the right to request flexible working. To find out more please click here.
There are a number of useful websites which may be helpful if you want to learn more about working and caring. These resources can be found at the bottom of the page.
How to apply for flexible working?
You are only legally entitled to make one application for flexible working each year. However, the company that you work for may be sympathetic if your situation changes and you need to make a second application.
You must make your request in writing (letter or email) and date it. Your employer may have a standard form you can use. Tips for making your case include:
- Make it clear, in your request, that you're a carer.
- Include information about the person who you care for – how you do this might help your case.
- State what changes you'd like to make to your working hours or working pattern, how you think it will affect your job and how any problems could be dealt with.
- Say when you would like your flexible working to start and whether you've made a similar request in the past, giving the date.
It can take time for flexible working applications to be processed, so make the application as soon as possible.
If your request is agreed to, it will permanently change your contract, and it may be difficult to change it back again. You could ask for flexible working arrangements on a trial basis to see whether they're right for you.
Why an employer can turn your request down?
Your employer has to have good business reasons for turning down a flexible working request. These count as business reasons:
- It will mean extra costs for the employer.
- It will make it difficult to meet customer demand.
- Your employer won’t be able to redistribute the work among the rest of the staff.
- Your employer can't take on any more staff to cope with the extra work created by a change in your working patterns.
- The changes you have requested will have a negative impact on quality or performance at your workplace.
- There's not enough work available at the times you'd like to work.
- Your employer already has structural changes planned.
If your employer rejects your request, they have to tell you their business grounds for refusing your application (from the list above).
Find out more about applying for flexible working on Government site: https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working
Career breaks
There are no laws that deal specifically with taking a career break – it is only an agreement between the employer and the employee.
Employers don’t have to offer career breaks. If they do, the policy must be clearly laid out (eg in a staff handbook) and should cover things like:
- eligibility and notice periods
- how to apply and how long is allowed
- if the employment contract’s terms and conditions continue - eg qualifying for pay increases
Employees can make arrangements to return to work after a career break but these agreements are not legally binding and it could mean ending the existing contract of employment.
Employees can’t take legal action if an employer decides they can’t return to their job or a similar one.
Other ways your employer can help
As well as your statutory right to take time off in an emergency, your employer may allow you extra time off, either paid or unpaid. This is sometimes referred to as ‘special leave’ or ‘compassionate leave’. There is no statutory entitlement to this leave, but you may have a right to it under your employment contract or it may be something that your employer agrees to on an ‘ad hoc’ basis.
Compassionate leave can help when you need to look after the person in your care for a longer period of time, such as when they come out of hospital.
If you are on an unpaid career break, you may also be entitled to Carer’s Allowance during this time even if your salary is usually above the threshold, because your eligibility for Carer’s Allowance is assessed based on your weekly net income.
However, once your circumstances have changed and you return to work, you will need to notify the Department of Work and Pensions about a change in your circumstances.
Information for Business
Engaging with businesses to raise awareness of the issues faced by working carers, means we can help employers develop a range of services and information to support their staff who have caring responsibilities.
At West Cumbria Carers we want to provide support to working carers and businesses. We understand that businesses rely on the strength of their workforce and providing information and a point of contact can support businesses in their success.
Working carers can have a bigger impact on your organisation than you may think:
- 1 in 5 carers leave or turn down a job because of their caring responsibilities
- 90% of working cares are aged 30+ (with a peak age of between 45-64) many of these will be employees with valuable skills, knowledge and experience
- At any one time, 1 in 9 of your workforce will be caring for someone
- The number of carers in the UK is set to rise from 6 million to 9 million over the next 30 years
The impact on an organisation can be much better managed and controlled if carers have information about what support and services are available to them.
Do you have policies and procedures in place which include carers? Having a document explaining the process and support the company can provide can be useful for working carers as well as supervisors and managers.
Often, there are small, inexpensive things that employers can do to help:
- Allowing people to keep their mobile phones with them and switched on during work time
- Access to a telephone to check on the person they care for
- A parking space closer to the office so it is quicker for them to leave in an emergency
- Considering flexible start and finish times to enable carers to deal with commitments before and after work.
Ask your employees, through staff meetings, surveys and focus groups what the carers working for your business would value (if you do not have any identified carers, ask all staff). After all, they are the people who best know, what will make a difference to their ability to be able to do a great job for you, whilst continuing to undertake their caring responsibilities.
Benefits
Once you know an employee is a carer, providing extra support is very important. An organisation which assists and supports its workforce will benefit from:
- Lower staff turnover and reduced recruitment costs - training new staff takes time, costs money and can cause lost business.
- Retention and attraction of skilled and experienced staff.
- Lower absence rates
- Greater productivity due to higher staff morale, commitment and motivation.
- Recognition and appreciation by your employees as a responsible and supportive employer.
Carers also develop many different skills that would hugely benefit an employer: multi-tasking; effective time management; negation and communication skills (often carers have to deal with a variety of care and health professionals).
Flexible working
Allowing flexible working such as working from home for carers can have many benefits for the business as well as the employee. For many businesses in the past, flexible practices have been developed with an employee, rather than a business focus, often wary of extending them further, perceiving a risk to the business. However as more research and more companies have used flexible working practices, there are now many positives for business to be highlighted:
- Better matching the workforce to fluctuations in demand- the most substantial source of value
- Increasing quality of outputs
- Attracting and retaining high quality talent
- Reduced stress
What we can do for working carers
As well as the changes that can be made at your organisation, we can provide support directly with carers. West Cumbria Carers can support working carers by providing:
- A carers assessment to fully understand their needs.
- One-to-one support
- Signposting and referrals to other services and organisations.
- Benefits information and help to complete complex forms.
- Access to health and social care services.
- Counselling
- Training to help in their caring role
- Short-term practical support
- Relaxation and mindfulness sessions
- Volunteer support
- Newsletters and information including a working and caring information via email.
- Activities and events where they can meet other carers in similar situations.
There are a number of useful websites which may be helpful if you want to learn more about working and caring. These resources can be found at the bottom of the page.
Research and Statistics
Prepared to Care: Exploring the impact of caring on people’s lives: produced by nine charities for Carers Week 2013.
This study highlights that the impact of caring on a person’s current and future employment prospects can be damaging; often leading to financial loss and wider emotional difficulties. Of 2,115 carers surveyed across the UK:
- 45% had given up work because of caring responsibilities
- 42% had reduced their working hours
- 34% felt that caring had impacted negatively on their chance of promotion
- 60% had reduced incomes
- 63% were unprepared for the impact that caring had on their career
Caring & Isolation in the Workplace, March 2015
Employers for Carers and Carers UK have undertaken targeted research into the impact of caring as a cause of isolation in the workplace. A survey of 1,041 carers highlighted the following:
- 7 in 10 working carers (71%) have felt lonely or isolated in the workplace as a result of their caring responsibilities
- Over four out of ten (43%) working carers felt that colleagues and managers did not understand the impact of caring and 38% had not felt comfortable talking about their caring responsibilities at work
- Many working carers are at breaking point; a staggering third (32%) were caring for 50 plus hours a week, comprising over half (53%) of the carers who felt lonely or isolated in the workplace most of the time
- Nearly a quarter (23%) of carers received no support from their employer
- The top priority for workplace support was improved and consistent manager awareness of caring issues (37%) and more flexible/special leave arrangements (again 37%)
- The top priority for support outside the workplace (identified by 50% of carers) was for more, better quality or more suitable support from care services followed by more or better quality support from GP and other health professionals (43%)
- More than seven in ten carers (72%) said they would be less stressed if these issues were addressed and six in ten (60%) said that they would feel that someone understood their situation
- Over half (56%) of the carers who had given up work to care highlighted the stress of juggling work and care and a third (34%) the lack of suitable care services
Useful Resources
Citizens Advice
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/
ACAS
They provide information and advice on employment and conciliation services for employers and employees to prevent or resolve workplace problems. Also information about how a carer can apply for flexible working etc.
ACAS Helpline
The Acas helpline number is 0300 123 1100. It is available Monday to Friday 8am-6pm. They recommend people look at the website first but this service can mean people can talk about their own particular situation and what to do next. This is very useful if someone has a difficult situation at work that you can’t do much about in your role. Details about the service can be found on: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042
Carers UK
https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/work-and-career
This website has basic information but it is easy to read and has good factsheets you can download. This site is also good for other information connected to being a carer.
Government websites