• 40% of unpaid carers who are in full time employment provide care for a family member or friend for over 35 hours a week.
  
  
• 42% of carers currently in employment have had to reduce their working hours due to their caring role.
  
  
• 34% of working age carers have had to give up employment at some point in their career.
  
  
• One in 14 (7%) carers of working age had retired early.

Research launched today (25 February) highlights the struggle that many unpaid carers in Scotland have to access and remain in paid employment. These new findings come from Carers Scotland’s research report: ‘State of Caring in Scotland 2024: Paid work and access to employment for unpaid carers’.

There are an estimated 270,000 people in Scotland who currently juggle paid employment with caring for someone who is disabled, has an illness or long-term condition or who needs extra help as they get older ¹.

However, 34% of working age carers stated that they had been forced to leave their jobs at some point in their career due to the pressures of combining work with their caring role. In addition, four in 10 (42%) carers currently in paid work have reduced hours and 21% of carers have had to take on a lower paid or more junior role to fit around their caring responsibilities.

Being able to be in paid work alongside a caring role can provide important financial security for unpaid carers, not only to help with the day-to-day costs of living and the additional costs they face in their caring role but also to support their health and wellbeing and give the ability to save for their future.

However, more than three in five (64%) carers in employment said that support services were not there when they needed them and nearly one in 10 (9%) carers said they have been treated unfavourably in employment. A third (34%) of working age carers have not been able to save as much, or indeed anything, for their retirement.

Richard Meade from Carers Scotland said:

“Supporting unpaid carers to remain in employment is vital. We know that not being in employment means a significant loss of income for carers, and the biggest driver in why 28% of carers live in poverty in Scotland. Today’s research found that more than two thirds (69%) of carers who had reduced hours or given up work because of caring had skipped meals and 67% told us that they were worried about living costs and managing in future. This loss of income has significant consequences for a carer’s future, with poverty in older age, sometimes long after a caring role has ended.

“Carers need more support than is currently available to remain in and to return to employment, with more action needed by governments, employers and local authorities to build the foundations of social care, financial support, flexibility and employability advice that will help both carers and our economy to thrive.”

In recent years the introduction of the Carer’s Leave Act and the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act, have been encouraging steps towards better workplace support for unpaid carers. However, 53% of carers were not able to afford to take Carers Leave because it is unpaid.

Such support is only of use if it is accessible, otherwise many carers are unable to exercise their rights. Carers Scotland have included a range of recommendations alongside this research for governments, the public sector, and employers on how they can better support unpaid carers to access and stay in work.

ENDS

Notes to editor

• The findings in ‘State of Caring in Scotland 2024: Paid work and access to employment for unpaid carers’ are based on the State of Caring Survey, which is the most comprehensive annual research into the lives and experiences of unpaid carers in Scotland. The 2024 survey was completed by 1561 carers, including 801 who were of working age, and with 463 of those in paid employment.
  
  
• ¹ Statistic comes from Scotland’s Census 2011
  
  
• An unpaid carer is someone who provides care and support to a family member, partner, friend, or neighbour who is disabled, has an illness or long-term condition, who needs extra help as they get older or is affected by addiction. This support could be a few hours a week, or it could be round the clock care and can include, for example, assisting with daily tasks like bathing, dressing and eating, managing medication and providing emotional support.
  
  
  
• About Carers Scotland
  Carers Scotland is a charity set up to help the hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland who care, unpaid, for family or friends and is a membership organisation of carers for carers. Carers Scotland is the Scottish nation office of Carers UK. The charity provides information and advice about caring alongside practical and emotional support for carers. Carers Scotland campaigns and influences policy makers, employers and service providers, using carers’ insights and lived experiences, to help improve carers’ lives.
  https://www.carersuk.org/scotland/

Media contact

For the Carers Scotland press office please contact:

• Christine Robertson, Media and Communications Officer, robertson@carerscotland.org
  Tel: 07864814804
  
  
• Fiona Collie, Head of Public Affairs and Communications,
  collie@carerscotland.org
  Tel: 07967826238