How to Support Unpaid Carers at Work: The New Carer’s Leave Act
A Guest Article from Wendy Chamberlain MP, whose Carer’s Leave Act 2023 introduces a new entitlement to leave for employees who are providing or arranging care:
Unless your organisation is truly tiny, I am sure that one of your staff members is an unpaid carer. That is simply the scale of unpaid care in this country: according to recent census data 9% of people in England and Wales provide unpaid care, rising to over 12% in Scotland. Carers UK research puts the figure as being almost twice as high. An estimated 2.4 million are juggling work and care. There is no doubt they are in every business up and down the country.
What Employers Need to Know about the Carer’s Leave Act
So if you have almost certainly got unpaid carers working for you, then you need to know about the Carer’s Leave Act. As the MP behind the legislation, I’m incredibly excited about it, but I hope as businesses you will be too.
The law itself is simple:
- Unpaid carers are entitled to 5 days of unpaid caring leave which can be taken in half day blocks.
- Leave is a day one employment right.
- Caring leave cannot be refused by employers, although can be postponed under some circumstances.
- This applies to anyone who is relied upon for care in the long term, including care relating purely to old age rather than a diagnosed illness.
Guidance for Employers
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to employment policy experts about the technical aspects of the law, and the simple message is this. It has been designed to create as small an administrative burden to businesses as possible. The notice period runs the same as annual leave; the evidential requirements are minimal; and where it is reasonable to do so, employers can request that the leave is delayed. I’m expecting the Government to publish guidance for employers by the end of the year; whilst the earliest the right will come into force is April next year, so there is plenty of time to prepare.
But – and this is the exciting bit – once processes are in place, this is a law that will really benefit businesses as well as workers. I’ve seen the proof of this. CIPD, the association for human resource management professionals has been behind the law since day one. I have also met with employers who already have carer’s leave in place, seen the change it makes in their workplaces, and the impact on their retention and profit outcomes.
Carers are at risk of leaving the workforce
Vacancies may be falling but there are still over a million unfilled jobs across the UK. Meanwhile on average 600 people are leaving work each day because they can’t juggle work with their caring responsibilities.
I am not an economics expert, but I know a few basic facts. Businesses need workers. Our economy needs workers. We also need people with incomes to spend in other businesses. No one benefits when people are forced to stop working because they aren’t supported enough to manage everything else they need to do.
Carers are at risk of leaving your workforce
Recruitment is expensive. You have to account advertising, interviewing, paperwork, training. The almost inevitable lag period whilst someone gets up to speed. It is rarely a better option to let a well-trained and skilled employee go, and replace them with someone new, when there is any other option.
With hundreds of thousands of workers leaving work altogether each year, this is not an abstract risk. Keeping your staff, already vetted and recruited is vital for the bottom line.
A supported workforce is a better workforce
As an MP I am an employer. Before I came into politics I worked in learning and development. With both of these caps on, I know and see the value of my employees and colleagues being supported.
The day to day of caring – hospital appointments, managing social care, or responding to emergencies – doesn’t fit neatly around a 9-5 job. This leaves working carers with two options: trying to hide the caring, using up their annual leave and too often putting a significant strain on their own health; or where employers allow, to adapt work and create a balance.
I see in my own team and have heard from businesses that when our staff are supported in all that they do, that they are better able to perform at work, more motivated and ultimately more dedicated.
This is a first step
When speaking to businesses, one of the difficulties I heard about was getting working carers to identify themselves. That even where businesses want to provide support, too many people don’t see helping elderly parents or a loved one as “caring” and so don’t ask for the help they need. I hope that this law will start conversations between employees and employers up and down the country.
Providing carer’s leave isn’t the end of the road for supporting unpaid carers. Many organisations already provide paid leave, and I hope others will follow suit. Other policies also help: flexible working, support networks, access to mental health support to name just a few.
Supporting carers is a good business decision; the Carer’s Leave Act is just the first step on that journey.
Wendy Chamberlain MP is Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife