1. Madeleine Starr
Carers UK
Care and Family Services and Business Productivity:
work-life balance and absenteeism

2. Family vs work
We are juggling increasingly complex work and
family lives
Services that support family life are as much about
economic productivity as social cohesion
This changes who we see as stakeholders in the
development and sustainability of these services –
with employers as a key driver

3. Working carers in the UK
In the UK 1 in 7 employees in any workplace is also
an unpaid carer – more in the public sector
90% of carers are aged 30+, the peak age for caring
is 45-64, and one in four women and one in five
men in their fifties is caring
These are people in the prime of their working lives –
and 1 in 6 have to give up work to care

4. The impact of caring on work
Carers pay a heavy penalty if they are not supported:
Carers providing heavy end care are 2-3 times more
likely to be in poor health
Caring for 20 hours a week or more can have a
significant impact on work, particularly for women
Carers are twice as likely to suffer stress as non-carers
All this has an impact on productivity

5. Employer vs service support
Employers can use flexible working, flexible leave
and workplace help such as information and
signposting to support carers
BUT
Flexible working will not succeed without flexible,
affordable and reliable external services, and only a
third of carers feel they have adequate services to
enable them to work

6. A condition for employment
The UK cannot afford for this to be the impact of
caring - how we manage care and caring must be
seen as an economic as well as a social issue
In the same way as a good system of childcare is seen
as a condition for employment, so must a good
system of care and support

7. Universal and fit for purpose
As well as being a social ‘good’, services must be
seen as facilitators of labour market participation
Family care and support services - and the wider
infrastructure including housing, transport and
assistive technologies - must be fit for 21st century
families and workplaces
Caring is everybody’s business – and needs support