"In Sickness and in Health" and Beyond: Reconciling Work and Care for a Partner in England. Dr Gary Fry, Research Fellow, CIRCLE (Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities) University of Leeds Prof Teppo Kröger, Professor of Social and Public Policy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Carers and Work-Care Reconciliation International Conference University of Leeds, 13th August 2013

1. ‘IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH’ AND BEYOND:
RECONCILING WORK AND CARE FOR A
PARTNER IN ENGLAND
August 13th 2013
Dr Gary Fry
Research Fellow
CIRCLE
Centre for International Research on
Care, Labour and Equalities
University of Leeds, UK

2. Partner carers: prevalence and characteristics (1)
 Approximately one fifth of 5.2m carers in England
care for a partner (CENSUS 2001)
 Half of partner carers are men, much higher than
for carers of other people
 60% of partner carers are aged between 50 and 64
 Heavy caring responsibilities:
 86% care for 20+ hours per week
 60% care for 50+ hours per week
 Two thirds have been caring for more than five
years

3. Partner carers: prevalence and characteristics (2)
 Most partner carers live with the person they care
for (co-resident)
 Half of all co-resident carers care for a partner
 Condition of cared for person:
 Physical disability: two thirds of partner carers
 Long-term / terminal illness: just over half
 Both far higher than carers of other people
 Someone frail: 44%
 Mental health: 27%
 Sensory impairment: 19%
 Dementia: 9%

4. Partner carers: employment characteristics
 58% of working age carers in paid employment
 More likely than other carers to work full-time (34% /
25%)
 Over half say their employer is carer-friendly
 Two thirds have support of family / friends
 Less than a quarter say their caring does not affect
their work
 28% said they had adequate support to work and
care

5. Partner carers: services and support
 No dedicated services for partner carers
 Means-tested support from social services means
many will have to pay
 Partner carers...
 40% paid for services
 37% received services with no charge
 12% had direct payments scheme in place
 26% had home care support
 20% of service users attended day care centre
 Only 10% of partner carers got a break / respite

6. Case study example: Arnold
6
 Arnold cared for his wife who suffered from a mental
health condition. He had to quit his well-paid full-time job
and apply for Carer’s Allowance, which he supplemented
by earning <£100 per week as a handyman. He was unable
to maintain payments on his mortgage or to support his
two sons at university. This made him feel deeply unhappy.
His wife made a slow recovery and later returned to paid
employment, but after an extended period of caring,
Arnold struggled to reactivate his former career. He feels
resentful about having to give up his job and cannot see an
easy way out of his situation. He feels that formal care
services are inadequate to support people in his
circumstances.

7. Recent policy developments
 National carer support programmes (e.g. Caring
with Confidence): nearly half accessing were
partner carers
 National telephone helpline
 LA-funded, third sector-delivered employment
support
 Telecare services offering “peace of mind”
(sometimes while working)
 Personalisation agenda to enhance service user
dignity and giving carers a “life of their own”

8. Conclusions
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Partner carers...
 Tend to be older, have heavy caring responsibilities,
and likely to be male
 More likely to care for people with a condition
requiring intensive support (e.g. physical disability /
terminal illness)
 More likely to be in full-time employment, without
adequate care support
 Unlikely to get a break from caring
 Likely to pay for formal support
 Have no dedicated formal care support

9. 9
Source of data
'In sickness and in health' and beyond: reconciling
work and care for a partner in Australia and England
Gary Fry, Cathy Thomson and Trish Hill
in
Combining paid work and family care:
Policies and experiences in international perspective
Policy Press