Supporting Unpaid Carers

HOW ARE WE SUPPORTING THOSE WHO CARE?

AN OVERVIEW OF HOW THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO SUPPORT UNPAID CARERS IN WORK

With the amount of carers increasing, most recently due to the pandemic, Business Disability Forum addresses the issues behind the Government’s proposal for unpaid carers leave.

FIGURES from a few years ago suggest that unpaid carers contribute around £132 billion per year to UK economy by supporting someone close to them – a partner, family member, friend, or neighbour. We have, however, experienced the outbreak of Covid since this figure was calculated and it is therefore likely to be greater now. As a result of the pandemic, disabled people have had their treatment, therapies, and surgeries cancelled or postponed. This has, in many cases, increased the severity of their condition at the same time as respite and day care centres closed their doors to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. It has been a ‘perfect storm’ for increasing the demands on some 13 million people who provide unpaid care in the UK today.

Carers rights under the Equality Act 2010 remain limited. There was, however, some hope on the horizon when the Government released a consultation last year which aimed to provide more support for unpaid carers in work. However, what the consultation offered was, in one carer’s words, “a slap in the face”. The Government proposed that employers must offer five days unpaid leave per year which should be planned in advance.

I spoke to several working carers networks and their employers to get their thoughts on the proposals. Even their employers were “shocked” and “taken aback” by the “low value” return these proposals were offering for working carers. Unpaid? Planned in advance? It caused everyone I spoke to during our research for the consultation to wonder how far the Government truly understood – or sought to find out – the reality of unpaid working carers lives.

“If you want us to plan our leave in advance, fix the health and social care system”, one carer said. This individual said they frequently get calls from the NHS while they are at work asking them to bring their mother to a hospital appointment the following morning. Recalling one occasion, they told me, “I was told that if I declined the appointment, my mother would go to the bottom of the waiting list. I’m not going to decline that appointment, am I? So, I need to say yes”. Another carer said they sometimes got to work only to receive a call from the person they support to say that their social care funded carer had not arrived, and they therefore had not been able to wash, dress, or have anything to eat. “I took the call as I arrived at work, and I had to turn around and go home again”, they said. Given these two examples alone, we cannot accept that a leave allowance designed to make carer’s working lives easier must be planned in advance.

Then there’s the five days. During our research, carers regularly reported that between five days a year were taken up with “admin” related to NHS healthcare and benefits alone. Employers I spoke to were also confused by this very modest offer, particularly as the Government’s consultation document suggested that two days per year “is often enough”. Many employers I spoke to said working carers often need “way more” time off than five days year. Some employers said their time off policies already allowed five days paid (not unpaid, as the Government is proposing) leave per year for caring and were therefore currently looking to extend their time off policies to allow working carers to take between ten and fifteen days per year. Employers unanimously agreed carers often need flexibility in their job and would need the Government’s proposals to drop the requirement for leave to be planned in advance wherever this could be accommodated.

Perhaps the most concerning part of the ‘support’ that the Government has proposed was that the leave days are unpaid. Carers who are already unpaid for the support they provide, have been statistically hard hit by the pandemic, and who have often had to reduce their working hours to increase the amount of time they spend caring are still not seeing any financial relief. The carers we spoke to all agreed that these proposals would push them further into taking annual leave or sick leave to fulfil their caring responsibilities. Both annual leave and sick leave generally offered a greater number of days employees can take off per year. In addition, sick leave is not planned in advance and, importantly, both types of leave in the organisations of the carers we spoke to are paid. Again, the employers we spoke to backed carers up on this: “We already see carers using annual leave and sick leave to care for someone, and these proposals only encourage them to keep doing that. It doesn’t help us when we are trying to get carers to use the support we provide more”.

The consultation closed in August last year, so where are we with all of this now? I was disappointed to see that the above proposal of providing five days planned unpaid leave per year was carried forward into the National Disability Strategy, which was published in July this year, even before the Government had analysed or fed back on the findings from the consultation. Business Disability Forum is continuing to work with other organisations to suggest and consider the practicalities of amending the Equality Act 2010 to include a duty for employers to make reasonable adjustments for unpaid carers employed in their organisation, a duty that currently only exists to remove work-related barriers for disabled people. The duty to make reasonable adjustments is balanced between the needs of an employee and the needs of an employer, and it also demands a case-by-case approach to providing support that is tailored to the individual’s own circumstances and the job that they are employed to do. We tested this suggestion with both carers and employers. Everyone we asked in our research, even employers, said they would support this amendment to the Equality Act 2010.

In reality though, amending the Equality Act is, some may say, unlikely in the foreseeable future. We are therefore continuing to collect stories and work with organisations to understand where we can influence change to increase support for unpaid working carers. To share your story, or to request a copy of the research we submitted to the Government, please contact Angela Matthews, Head of Policy and Research at policy@ businessdisabilityforum.org.uk

The Business Disability Forum is a not for profit organisation which aims to transform the life chances of disabled people, working with businesses to create a disabilitysmart world. They do this by bringing together business leaders, disabled people, and Government to understand what needs to be changes to improve the life opportunity and experiences of disabled people in employment, economic growth and society.

Their 400 Members and Partners represent a huge cross sector of UK and global business, employing an estimated 20% of the UK workforce and 8 million people worldwide. They provide their members and partners with a wealth of practical advice and support, thought leadership and networking opportunities so that they can share what works and what doesn’t.

To become a member of Business Disability Forum visit their membership page on their website or call the team on 020-7089-2411.

Author: Angela Matthews, Head of Policy

and Research, Business Disability Forum

Website: businessdisabilityforum.org.uk Twitter: @DisabilitySmart Instagram: @disabilitysmart Facebook: @DisabilitySmart