One in seven people who work in Wales also provide unpaid care for family or friends.
Working carers are the group most likely to miss out on information and advice and are the least likely to have any formal support at home. Without support, working carers can struggle inside and outside the workplace.
Am I a working carer?
A carer is anyone who provides care and support for another person or persons. A working carer is someone who does this while doing paid work.
You may be caring for someone who has an illness, disability, is older, has difficulties with addiction or has mental health concerns. This person is typically a close family member like a parent, partner or child but can also be a friend, neighbour, or more distant relative.
This person doesn’t have to live with you, and you may share your caring responsibilities with other family members or friends.
Providing care means different things to different people. It could be giving and/or organising medication and attending medical appointments, managing the person’s finances, providing practical support and/or emotional support or generally caring for a person’s wellbeing. This may be something that you do a few hours per week, or it may take up all your free time outside your paid work.
You may not immediately recognise that you are a carer. Many carers provide help and support to loved ones and feel that caring is ‘just something I do’, rather than formally label themselves as a carer. It can take on average two years to self-identify as a carer. But, if you provide care as described above, you are a carer, and being able to identify yourself as such can help you to get access to the help and support you need.
A working carer is anyone who provides unpaid care while being in employment. Your employment status doesn’t matter. You may work full-time or part-time. You could work behind a desk, in a shop or on a building site. You may work for a multinational organisation or for yourself.
As long as you are being paid for something that is not directly connected to caring for the person you care for, you are a working carer.
What are the challenges of being a working carer?
Having to choose between the needs of an employer and the needs of the person who requires care can lead to you feeling pressured, overwhelmed, confused, frustrated or even guilty.
The challenge of juggling these two opposing demands means you may need need to be particularly organised. This often works well until an event occurs that unbalances this carefully curated system that creates a ripple effect on both sides.
The best way to relieve this pressure is good communication with your employer, the person you care for and anyone you share your caring role with. Working carers often take the responsibility on their shoulders but sharing concerns can often support you through difficult times
Many working carers can feel lonely or isolated. You may feel reluctant to discuss your caring role due to concerns about assumptions others may make about you or how it could impact future work prospects. You may feel uncomfortable talking about the pressures of caring with your colleagues.
However, research shows that being a working carer is far more common than most people think. Before the pandemic, 1 in 7 people surveyed had a caring role alongside work commitments. This figure rose to 1 in 4 during the pandemic. The number of working carers in Wales could now be between 223,000 and 468,000 people.
This means that not only are you not alone, but someone you are working with may also be a working carer or have had experience of being a working carer.
Providing unpaid care often means it is necessary to have time off to attend medical appointments, meetings with service providers or emergency leave to support the person requiring care.
This can create difficult situations for working carers. Many carers have used up all their contractual leave to cover for these absences, while others feel that they need to work longer hours to compensate.
However, as a carer, you have rights to leave. You have statutory rights for unpaid leave for caring responsibilities, and many companies now offer contractual paid leave for carers.
