Working Carers
What is a working carer?
Working carers are employees with caring responsibilities. These employees are responsible for the care of relatives or friends who due to illness, disability, a mental health condition or an addiction cannot cope without their support.
Why should employers support working carers?
Many carers are balancing their caring role with their job or need extra support to return to the workplace if they have lost employment due to their caring role.
Supporting carers can have many positives:
- Retaining skilled and experienced employees.
- Lowering staff turnover
- Improving service delivery and increased productivity.
- Increasing employee resilience
- Reducing recruitment costs as talented employees are retained
Juggling responsibilities with work can be challenging and stressful for carers. Without employer support and understanding, carers can become exhausted and unwell themselves. This can be damaging to both the home and work environment.
How can employers help?
- Raise awareness of what it means to be an unpaid carer within your workplace
- Encourage employees who are working carers to register with Swindon Carers Centre
- Get involved with Swindon Carers Centre to support your staff who are carers
Employees can register as a carer with Swindon Carers Centre using our online form.
Click here to request Swindon Carers Centre leaflets to share in your workplace.
The Carer’s Leave Act
Did you know 1 in 7 employees in the UK are providing unpaid care?
On 6th April 2024 The Carer’s Leave Act came into force in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Act gives employees a new entitlement of statutory unpaid leave from their job.
Employees providing long term care will be able to take up to five days unpaid Carer’s Leave from work a year in support of their caring responsibilities. They will have the same employment protections as associated with other forms of family related leave (i.e. Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Parental Bereavement, Shared Parental and Parental Leave). This includes protection from dismissal or detriment as a result of having taken the leave.
Carers UK is producing a standalone, paid for set of resources to support employers with the implementation of the Carer’s Leave Act. For more information click here
Get involved with Swindon Carers Centre
- Become a Trustee at Swindon Carers Centre
- Sign up to be a Swindon Carers Centre Ambassador
- Partnership and sponsorship opportunities
- Support our annual events
- Fundraise for Swindon Carers Centre
- Choose us as your Charity of the Year
Further resources
Please click on the report titles to view them.
Supporting working carers: A guide for employers
A guide commissioned and reviewed by Public Health England (PHE) and developed by Health@Work. Created to provide information to help organisations support those employees who
may have caring responsibilities for family or loved ones.
Carers UK: Let’s Talk About Flexible Working
How flexible working could help you, and how to start the conversation with your employer.
Juggling work and unpaid care: A growing issue
Research from Carers UK shows that the number of those juggling work and care appears to be far higher than previously thought. This is one in seven of all workers, compared with the previous figures of one in nine workers.
Prince’s Trust: Supporting Carers in the Workplace
This toolkit provides the knowledge and practical advice your business needs to support informal carers. It includes best practice support for carers from Aviva, a template ‘carers passport’ and other resources.
The CIPD: Supporting Working Carers
The CIPD is the professional body for HR and people development. The report presents detailed findings of the first UK study based on a representative sample of working carers.