More than 1,500 workers across the UK are resigning every day to care for a loved one, a charity has estimated, describing the situation as “deeply worrying”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously stated that caring for a relative without adequate support can and does “break people”.
According to Carers UK, polling indicates that the proportion of people forced to leave work to care for someone has risen slightly since pre-pandemic levels, with more individuals also juggling employment alongside their care responsibilities.
Its survey found one in five (20%) workers were having to manage their jobs alongside being an unpaid carer, up from 15% in 2019.
While 5% of respondents in 2019 said they had given up their job completely to care for a family member or friend who is older, disabled or seriously ill, this stood at 6% for the latest survey.
Of those who have quit their jobs to care, a third (34%) had done so in the previous two years, up from 18% in 2019.
Around 2% of the 4,000 UK adults surveyed online in July by Opinium for the charity, said they had given up work to care in the past two years – a rise from 0.9% in 2019.
Carers UK said one in five UK adults providing unpaid care equates to an estimated 11 million people and is a rise from an estimated 8.8 million people in 2019.
It said the proportion leaving work to care equates to an estimated 3.33 million people, with around 1.1 million doing so in the past two years.
The charity said this equates to more than 1,500 people a day – up from around 600 a day in 2019.
The charity’s latest report said: “The direction of travel is clear: the pressures facing unpaid carers have intensified significantly in recent years, with more people reaching a point where balancing work and care is no longer sustainable.”
Carers UK has long called for a statutory right to paid leave for carers, arguing current workplace support and employment rights “do not reflect the realities of caring”.
In April 2024, a legal entitlement to unpaid leave for carers came into effect for England, Wales and Scotland.
Since then, employees who are carers for a dependant have been entitled to up to a week of unpaid leave every 12 months – equating to five days for most people.
A Government consultation, launched in June, proposed introducing paid carer’s leave, including asking respondents how much it should be, a new “right to return” to work for carers similar to mothers coming back after maternity leave, and new guidance for workers and employers on protections carers have in the workplace.
The Department for Business and Trade said unpaid carers feeling forced to cut their working hours, delay returning to work or quitting altogether costs the economy an estimated £37 billion a year and that new protections could result in thousands with caring responsibilities returning to work with increased flexibility and financial security.
Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers UK, said: “It is deeply worrying to see growing numbers of unpaid carers leaving employment.
“These figures represent real people who have had to make difficult decisions about their careers, their financial security and their futures due to the pressures of balancing work and care.
“The sizeable impact of caring responsibilities on peoples’ working lives should concern us all, because when people are forced to leave work to care employers lose valuable skills and there are wider implications. The economic cost of carers leaving paid work is estimated to be £37 billion a year.
“The positive news is that employer-led initiatives can make a real difference and the government’s review of employment rights for unpaid carers is an important opportunity to ensure better support is available for all working carers.
“Introducing paid Carer’s Leave would provide time away from work without a loss of income.”
Addressing the issue of social care previously during a visit to a care home in the summer, Mr Burnham, whose father had Alzheimer’s and whose death was announced on Monday, directly referenced the struggle so many family carers face.
Speaking in July, the PM said he could “certainly attest from family experience that it’s too hard for the family carers”.
He added: “It can break people if they’re left without the support that they need.
“In fact, it does break people, and that needs to be recognised.”
