Research: State of Caring 2019

Each year, Carers UK carries out a survey of carers to understand the state of caring in the UK. This year, more than 7,500 people were included in the survey of which 39% are in paid work. Of those, 47% work full-time and 53% part-time.

Key findings

• The number of those juggling work and care could be far higher than previously thought – around 4.87 million (compared with three million in the Census 2011). This is one in seven of all workers.
• There are different numbers of people juggling work and care in the different employment sectors, for example it has been estimated that one in five of the NHS workforce in England is an unpaid carer.
• 38% of all carers reported that they had given up work to care and 18% had reduced their working hours. One in six carers (17%) said that they work the same hours but their job is negatively affected by caring, for example because of tiredness, lateness and stress.
• 12% of carers said that they have had to take a less qualified job or have turned down a promotion to fit around their caring responsibilities. Just over one in 10 carers (11%) said that they had retired early to care. Only 4% of respondents of all ages said that caring has had no impact on their capacity to work.

The research offers recommendations as to how employers could better support employees who have caring responsibilities.