Hidden Care(e)rs: Supporting Informal Carers in the Workplace

Abstract

The UK has an ageing population; people are not only living longer but doing so with health problems, and the government has been investing less in adult social care (Petrie and Kirkup, Caring for carers: The lives of family carers in the UK. http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Caring-for-Carers.pdf. Accessed 6 May 2018; Grierson, 928 carers in England quit a day as social care system ‘starts to collapse’. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/11/900-carers-in-england-quit-a-day-as-social-care-system-starts-to-collapse. Accessed 6 May 2018, 2017; Pickard, Informal care for older people provided by their adult children: Projections of supply and demand to 2041. Personal Social Services Research Unit (PRSSU), London. Discussion paper 2515, 2008). This has resulted in an ever-increasing, and unrecognised, reliance on care provided on an informal basis, by friends and family. The highest provision of this care is provided by mid-life women (aged 50–64) (ONS, Census. https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census. Accessed 6 May 2018, 2011). Furthermore, 13.3 per cent of employed women overall combine work and care (ONS, Census. https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census. Accessed 6 May 2018, 2011). Previous research has demonstrated that carers reduce the number of hours they work and level of responsibility or even leave their jobs (Carers UK 2019; Yeandle et al., Managing caring and employment. University of Leeds: Carers UK, 2, 2007). This chapter offers an examination of existing legislation and literature on supporting working carers. It reviews findings from interviews conducted in 2016 with 30 women aged 45–65 across Leicestershire who combined work and care, with reference to their careers, and organisational and line manager support. This is particularly significant given the large number of mid-life women caring, alongside careers commentary referring to women of this age being at their professional peak, and the government keen to encourage older workers to remain active in the labour market (Kirton and Greene, The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. 4th ed. Oxon: Routledge, 2016). The chapter is relevant to both academic and practitioner audiences and concludes that current practices provide insufficient support and contribute to the ongoing factor of caring being a hidden inequality in workplaces. As a result, it closes with recommendations for employers and policymakers.