A right to paid Carer's Leave

 

 

Carers UK is calling for the Government to build on the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 and take the next step in providing working carers with the flexibility they need to juggle work and care, by legislating to introduce a new statutory right to paid Carer’s Leave for employees with unpaid caring responsibilities.

Our long-standing vision is for all working carers to have a statutory right to two weeks of paid Carer’s Leave a year, accompanied by a longer period of up to six months of unpaid leave. However, as employment rights are often built over time, we recommend that a pragmatic next step would be for the Government to introduce a statutory right to five days of paid Carer’s Leave during this Parliament.

The Employment Rights Bill is going through Parliament at present and contains several measures which will support unpaid carers in different ways, including better rights to flexible working, enhanced rights to sick pay benefitting lower paid works which will affect unpaid carers who are more likely to have lower wages and bereavement leave. The Bill does not contain any provisions for paid Carer's Leave. In their Next Steps to Make Work Pay, the Government says that they will review the implementation of Carer's leave and examine all the benefits of introducing paid Carer's leave, while being mindful of the impact of any changes on employers, particularly small employers. Carers UK is asking Government to lay the foundations for paid Carer's Leave within the Bill. 

At the Second Reading of the Bill, Wendy Chamberlain MP, the Liberal Democrat MP who took through the Carer’s Leave Act, asked the Government when the review would be taking place and whether they would include paid Carer’s Leave in the Bill. This call for paid Carer’s Leave was also raised by Sarah Gibson MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on employment rights.

While the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 was a positive step in the right direction, benefitting over 2 million employees who are currently juggling work and care, unpaid leave provisions have always been more problematic for some workers to benefit from. This is particularly true for those on low pay – as they often cannot afford to take unpaid leave from work – and women, who provide the bulk of unpaid care, are also more likely to be disadvantaged by this.

Useful documents: 

Employment Rights Bill: factsheets 

Next Steps to Make Work Pay

 

 

The case for paid Carer's Leave

The UK economy increasingly depends on businesses and employers retaining their skilled and knowledgeable staff, and this includes the 2.8 million people who are juggling paid work with their unpaid caring responsibilities for family members and friends who need their support.

A lack of support and understanding about the pressures working carers face means that many people are currently struggling to balance their responsibilities, with adverse consequences for their health and wellbeing, and their ability to remain in paid work. As a result, 600 people a day fall out of the labour market each day because they are unable to balance their caring responsibilities with work.

Society clearly needs to adapt and change to support our growing and changing population of working carers, and to realise the benefits of doing so.

Introducing paid Carer’s Leave would support more unpaid carers to stay in or return to work and mean that working carers could take time away from work to fulfil their caring responsibilities when they need to do so, without losing out financially. Considering the significant financial pressures many carers currently face, this is imperative.

Introducing paid Carer’s Leave isn’t just morally right, but economically imperative. Evidence shows that providing working carers with the flexible working opportunities they need would deliver clear economic benefits for the economy as a whole and save employers billions of pounds a year.

In our report, 'Taking the next step for working carers - a new right to paid Carer's Leave', we examine the benefits of moving to paid Carer’s Leave, including the positive impact it would have for women and lower paid workers. We also outline the anticipated costs and savings this would result in for HM Treasury.

 

What would paid Carer's Leave mean for carers?

If a new right to paid Carer’s Leave were introduced:

• more unpaid carers – particularly women – would be able to juggle work and care
• business would be better able to retain and recruit skilled employees – many of whom are 45-60 and at the height of their careers
• workplace cultures would become more family-friendly and inclusive
• more working carers would be supported to stay in work or work more hours – with particular benefits for the NHS and social care workforce, which have especially high numbers of working carers
• employees with lower incomes who may not be able to afford unpaid leave would be able to take time off work to manage their caring responsibilities.

Our evidence shows that:

• 80% of carers say that additional paid Carer’s Leave of between five and ten days would better help them to juggle work and unpaid care.
• 50% of carers would find it easier to return to work after a period of absence if they had access to paid Carer’s Leave.
• Almost half (40%) of those who have given up work or retired early to care, said paid Carer’s Leave would have helped them to stay in employment for longer, had it been available at the time.

 

Economic impact of paid Carer's Leave

Supporting people to stay in work by introducing paid Carer’s Leave also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK economy.

There is robust evidence to suggest that providing working carers with access to paid Carer’s Leave would leverage benefits for carers, communities, employers and the economy at very little cost.

Evidence shows:

• The estimated value to the economy of carers being able to work is £5.3 billion.
• Centrica estimated that UK companies could save up to £4.8 billion a year in unplanned absences and a further £3.4 billion in improved employee retention by adopting flexible working policies to support those with caring responsibilities.
• The public expenditure costs of carers leaving paid work have been estimated to be £1.3 billion a year, based on the costs of Carer’s Allowance payments and lost tax revenues.

When valued employees have to give up work to care, businesses bear the costs of recruitment and lost productivity. Employers are losing talented people in whom they have invested considerable time and money. The impact of staff turnover, absence, and stress because of juggling work and caring unsupported could be costing UK businesses over £3.5 billion every year, so there are significant savings to be made by better supporting employees to combine work and caring.

The specific benefits that employers would gain through the introduction of a statutory right to paid Carer’s Leave include:

• Increased productivity
• Lower recruitment costs
• Higher staff retention
• Reduced absenteeism
• Increased worker loyalty and satisfaction
• Improved employee wellbeing
• Positive contribution to diversity and inclusion
• Being an employer of choice when looking to recruit new employees.
  
  

About the Carer's Leave Act 2023 - and Carers UK's support

A right to Carer's Leave is an issue that Carers UK has campaigned on for a long time. In June 2022, this took a firm step forward with the introduction of a Private Members' Bill on Carer's Leave, by Wendy Chamberlain MP, the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife. Carers UK worked closely with Wendy in the passing of the Bill, which gained Royal Assent and became the Carer’s Leave Act on 24 May 2023.

The regulations for the Act, which were passed by Parliament in early 2024, confirmed that the Act would come into force on 6 April 2024. Guidance has been made available to help carers and employers to better understand what the legislation means for them, which can be accessed on gov.uk.

You can find more detailed information and advice about the Carer’s Leave Act here.

 

Read our latest research

• Taking the next step for working carers - introducing a new right to paid Carer’s Leave (August 2024)
• Unpaid carers in employment research report (April 2024)
• Carers’ employment rights today, tomorrow and in the future (November 2023)
• State of Caring Report 2022 (November 2022)
• Supporting Carers at Work: Carers Rights Day Report 2021 (November 2021)
• Juggling work and unpaid care (February 2019)

 

Contact us

For more information about Carer’s Leave, please contact policy@carersuk.org