Workplace support for carers can help people stay in work, benefiting both the business and the employee, says Becky Spencer.

Every day, around 600 employees have to leave their job to care for an elderley, disabled or seriously ill family member or friend due to a lack of flexibility and support in the workplace. That’s around 220,000 workers leaving the labour force each year to take on full-time, unpaid caring responsibilities.

Many more employees, around 2.5 million in England and Wales alone, face a daily struggle to juggle employment with their caring role. The majority of these employees (1.6 million) are working full-time and, with a lack of social care provision and an ageing population, this number is expected to continue increasing. However, research by the charity Carers UK has found 75 per cent of carers currently in employment worry about how long they can continue to manage their job alongside their caring responsibilities.

No employer wants to lose a skilled and experienced member of staff, which is why providing the right support to employees with caring responsibilities so they can continue to thrive in their jobs is so important for both the business and the employee.

Carer-friendly workplaces

Many employees who provide long-term care for family or friends may not inform their employer about their caring responsibilities, meaning many employers will be in the dark about the number of people this applies to in their organisation. To mitigate this, employers need to make all their staff aware that they are a carer-friendly workplace, with policies and support in place that reflects this.

Carer-friendly policies are those that provide:

• practical support, such as flexible working, homeworking and care leave (paid or unpaid); and
• wellbeing support, such as access to external mental health counselling or financial advice through an employee assistance programme, for example.

Since April 2024, when the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 came into force in England, Scotland and Wales, employers have had a legal duty to allow staff providing long-term care to a relative or friend to take five days unpaid leave each year to carry out their caring duties. This right is available from the first day of employment and allows employees to take the leave flexibly for planned and foreseen caring commitments. The regulations set out that employees can take carer’s leave in full or half days, or in a whole block of five days, but must give advance notice of time that needs to be taken.

The right to unpaid leave is certainly a welcome step forward for many carers but many are unable to take it because of the financial burden of losing five days’ pay.  Over half (56 per cent) of working carers responding to Carers UK’s State of Caring Survey 2024 said they can’t afford to take carer’s leave, highlighting, the charity says, the importance of updating the Act to introduce a statutory right to paid carer’s leave. Just 18 per cent of carers already have access to paid carer’s leave through their employer, the charity’s research shows.

The right to request flexible working is something all employees now have the legal right to do. And while an employer can refuse a flexible working application if they have a good business reason for doing so, it’s worth highlighting that for many working carers, being allowed to work in a flexible way, whether that’s starting and finishing later, working for home or working condensed hours, can make the difference between them staying in their job or leaving.

Talk about carers

Having carer-friendly policies in place is the start – ensuring staff are aware of them is just as important. Working carers can be invisible in the workplace – through choice or concern about coming forward – so employers really need to celebrate the fact they are a carer-friendly workplace. Talk about carers and work. Make sure staff are aware they can request unpaid care leave and flexible working if they have long-term caring responsibilities. Consider running awareness-raising sessions to talk about the support you can offer working carers or display posters providing information. Being open about what’s available can help break down any barriers that may be preventing employees disclosing their caring responsibilities and accessing support. Some employers go even further by setting up a carer support network, where employees with caring responsibilities can meet others in a similar position.

Train line managers

Six months after the right to request unpaid care leave came into force, a survey carried out by Employers for Carers (EfC) found around three-quarters of the firms questioned had not specifically raised awareness of it to managers or provided any training.

Line managers will often be the first port of call for a working carer in need of support at work, so ensuring they know what support the employer is able to offer is vital. It may have taken an employee a long time to gain the confidence to confide in their line manager about their caring responsibilities and if they are met by ignorance or indifference it will only add to their concerns about coming forward.

On the other hand though, a supportive line manager that listens, is willing to be flexible, and works with the employee to find solutions that suit both the business and the employee can make a real positive difference to a carer’s work life and their wellbeing.

Resources to support employers

The charity Business in the Community has published a practical guide to help employers support carers in the workplace. It covers the business case for supporting carers, advice for line managers, and a case study outlining a step-by-step approach to developing support for carers.
The Carers Trust’s Employee toolkit provides advice  and best practice examples to support employees with caring duties.

Employers for Carers (EfC) is a membership forum set up to champion and promote effective workplace support for staff with caring responsibilities. It has over 230 member organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors, offering advice and support to over 2.7 million employees.

Centrica is a long time EfC member. Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive says: “The carers in our business do an amazing job – both at work and at home – and we want to make sure they feel supported and able to stay in employment. 

“At Centrica, we have a leading carers policy which includes paid leave, flexible working, and a carers network. It’s the right thing to do and we want to help our employees and share best practices with others. Our experience shows that there is a clear business case for doing this with savings from increased retention and ensuring carers don’t have to take unplanned absences.”