This Carers Week, here’s a massive shout out to everyone providing care to someone close to them.
As the panel discussed movingly in our special webinar in March, the number of people with caring responsibilities in the UK, including child carers, has risen sharply since the start of the Covid pandemic, largely due to a huge increase in long term sickness and disability.
This has led to increasing numbers of people struggling with their own health and wellbeing whilst trying to balance work and caring responsibilities.
In turn, it has contributed to the large numbers of people leaving the workplace altogether because they are unable to find flexible working patterns needed to manage both, which has wider societal and economic impacts. All of which, we have been highlighting for the past few years.
We have seen this reflected in increasing requests for policy and employment relations advice around carers over the last few years. Some of the saddest cases we’ve advised on in recent years have involved kinship carers and grief-related absences from employees who were bereaved following many years as a carer.
The need to better protect carers in employment was recognised post-lockdowns, and enhanced rights came into effect in April 2024. The minimum entitlement, from day one of employment, for employees who are carers in Great Britain (there are different rules in NI) are:
- 1 week’s paid leave, which can be taken flexibly per year, to provide planned care or to make arrangements for care;
- Protections from unfair dismissal and other forms of unfair treatment arising from having caring responsibilities.
It is also easier for employees with caring responsibilities to request flexible working under changes which also came into effect in April 2024.
Glass Ceilings welcomed these changes, having backed calls for enhanced carers’ rights for many years even before the pandemic. Our Work-Life Inclusion Policy Framework provides fully flexible working options and more generous paid leave per year for special circumstances, including caring responsibilities. Feedback from our clients on policy and advisory services around carers in the workplace is always positive.
If your organisation would benefit from advice, get in touch: [email protected]
9th June, 2025