Work, life care? Supporting carers to find the right balance for them

Carers are people who provide unpaid care by looking after someone who is older, disabled or seriously ill.

European Carers Day aims to coordinate and foster national efforts to raise awareness of carers’ experiences across Europe. This year’s theme highlights the fact that carers often have to make decisions that impact on their own wellbeing, health and financial security. In this commentary we explore policies that can support carers’ wellbeing - including a new initiative here at the University of Sheffield, as well as looking at some international examples to see how the UK compares, and considering how we could go further. 

Why a work-life-care balance matters

The Centre for Care is a member of Eurocarers, an organisation bringing together carers’ groups, universities and research institutes across Europe to campaign for carers’ rights. This European Carers Day they are calling for changes to support work-life-care balance including: 

• Supportive workplaces that understand and accommodate the challenges faced by carers, enabling them to stay in paid work.
• Accessible policies that provide information about resource and services to support carers 
• Public awareness and recognition of the vital role carers play in our society. Striving to eliminate stigma and promote appreciation for carers’ dedication.
• Support mechanisms that reduce the financial burden on carers. This includes financial assistance, carer tax credits, and resources that ensure their economic stability.
• Balanced lives; a world where carers can pursue their aspirations, maintain their own wellbeing, and provide quality care to their loved ones while maintaining other aspects of their lives 

Eurocarers Chief Executive, Stecy Yghemonos, says:  "Carers are the backbone of European care systems, but the toll on their health, social life and careers is a stark reminder that solidarity should never come at the cost of personal hardship. This must change – their support should be our priority."

Our research in the Centre for Care, with Carers UK, shows that more women than men are carers and the largest group who become carers are people aged 46-65 (41%). This can impact their ability to work. Across the UK more than 1.9 million people in paid employment become carers every year. 

What are carers legally entitled to?'

In the UK, 2023 saw the introduction of the Carer’s Leave Act giving carers a statutory entitlement to at least one week of unpaid carer’s leave each year to provide care for a dependent with a long-term care need. The Act is a welcome step that has the potential to enable carers to better balance their job and their caring responsibilities however, there is more than must be done.

Centre for Care PhD student Christie Butcher highlights that:  "It does not offer any financial aid to carers if they take any Carer’s Leave, meaning it will not be accessible to all. Some carers may not be able to afford to take time off work unpaid, especially those who are in challenging financial circumstances.

This suggests that it may disproportionately benefit those who are more well-off in society, potentially having the unintended consequence of increasing inequalities between carers. We may start to see these effects across space, for example, Local Authorities with higher levels of deprivation may not see the same benefits as the less deprived Local Authorities.

If this is the case, further effort needs to be made to support the needs of all carers, and policy needs to be implemented that ensures inequalities are reduced, rather than widened."

How can employers in the UK support a work-life-care balance?

The University of Sheffield (TUoS) is a member of Employers for Carers and has already implemented a range of measures to support carers at work including paid emergency leave and flexible working policies. Recently a new staff network was set up to support carers working at TUoS. Cliona Boyle, a carer for her 5 year old daughter who has Angelman syndrome, is the co-chair of the network. She describes how employers can support their staff. 

"Although there are a range of policies aimed at carers it can be hard for carers in crisis to know where to get help. The staff network aims to provide peer learning so that carers know where and how to get support. It is also a place for line managers to come to get advice and gain the knowledge they need to best help the people they manage. By raising the visibility of caring, line managers can be better placed to support carers and recognise when they might need help. The first conversation a carer has with their manager shouldn’t be when we are in crisis and the plates we are spinning have come crashing down, the discussions need to happen before that time. 

Although carers need to be part of the conversation about what support they need, we can not be the only ones driving change. Carers are already working at capacity with the work and carer part of the equation, let alone the having a life part! Anyone can be a carer. So it is in all our interests to make the workplace as accessible as possible. If the workplace feels supportive and proactive it can make that part of the work-life-care balance that little bit easier. Carers often feel they need to fight numerous systems to get the care their loved ones need, we shouldn’t have to fight for recognition at work as well. 

Good quality support and understanding combined with robust policies can enable carers to stay in the workplace but it has to be for everyone. Carers should not have to choose between the work we love and the people we love. We also need to recognise that not all policies work for all staff. For example flexible working and working from home may be an option for some staff here, but not those in estates or customer facing roles. Our policies need to recognise the range of roles in the University and the range of caring responsibilities employees have.

We need to do more to help line managers and employers to recognise their staff may be caring so they have early meaningful conversations about the support available. This way carers can stay in work and feel supported to do so."

If you would like to know about the University of Sheffield Carers Staff network please email: carersnetwork@sheffield.ac.uk

How does the UK compare internationally? 

The UK was the first adopter of many policies to support carers, and was emulated by other countries and carers’ organisations around the world. However, it is hard not to conclude that we have now fallen behind other nations in terms of the support that carers receive. A growing number of countries now offer statutory paid carers leave for example - in contrast to the unpaid leave introduced via the Carers Leave Act in the UK. 

The table below summarises carers’ entitlements in 7 countries that have statutory paid leave. This is taken from a forthcoming book ‘Combining Work and Care: Carer Leave and Related Employment Policies in International Context’, edited by Kate Hamblin, Janet Fast and Jason Heyes.

For more information on caring please visit our website and follow us on X @CentreForCare.