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Who Cares Wins: employer support and employment rights for carers in the UK Madeleine Starr MBE Emily Holzhausen Carers UK. Who cares?. We all care or will have to care
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Who Cares Wins: employer support and employment rights for carers in the UK Madeleine Starr MBE Emily Holzhausen Carers UK
Who cares? • We allcareorwill have tocare • The bulk of care has always been provided within relationships and families – in the EU 80% of care is provided by families • By 2050 globally three times more people of working age will be looking after 2 billion ageing family members • More people are living longer, and at home, with disability and illness • Which means… • More people needingcare and more people needing to provide that care
Who works? We all work or will have to work and work longer • By 2060 there will be only 2 people working for each 1 in retirement, compared to 4 to 1 today • Our economy will need a shrinking workforce to work longer to meet growing care and pensions bills - at a point when many people will be sandwiched between caring roles • Choosing between work and care will not be an option for individuals or the economy Which means… • More support needed to combine work with care
Juggling work and care in the UK • Of the UK’s 6 millioncarers, 58% are women, 42% are men • Nearly 80% - 4.4 million – are of working age • 3 million – 1 in 7 people in the UK workforce - juggle paid work with care, 2 million full time, 1 million part time • 400,000 people combine work with 20+ hours of care per week 200,000 people combine work with 50+ hours of care per week • Male carers are more likely to work than women - 6 out of 10 work, 90% full time • Women carers are more likely to work part time
Impact of care on work in the UK • 2.3 million people move in and out of caring each year, so caring impacts on individuals, employers and the economy year on year • Carers UK’s State of Caring Survey 2011 of 4000 carers found that nearly 1 in 3 had reduced their working hours or given up work to care • Research by LSE has estimated the public expenditure costs of carers giving up work to care as a £1.3 billion in England alone, £1 billion in lost tax, £300 million in Carers Allowance costs • Total costs - taking account of lost earnings - are a staggering £5.3 billion UK wide, 0.3% of GDP
Why carers give up work • Stress of juggling work and care • High levels of care • Unpredictability of care • Caring at a distance • Unsuitability or inflexibility of care services • Affordability of care services • Inflexibility of workplaces
What carers need • Understanding from managers and colleagues • Access to advice and information • Signposting to support • Peer support/carers networks • Flexibility (often short-term) • Flexible working arrangements • Flexible leave arrangements, including a response to emergencies • Practical support • Private space for a call or parking close to work
The legislative response 1 • Employment Relations Act 1999 • Right to emergency leave to care for dependants • Amendment to Regulations in 2002 to introduce right to requestflexible working for parents, including parents of disabled children up to the age of 18 • Work and Families Act 2006 • Right to request flexible working for someone caringfor a spouse, partner, civil partner or relative, or living at the same address as the adult in need of care
The legislative response 2 • Equality Act 2010 • Following the ruling in the Coleman Case by the European Court of Justice in 2008, this gives carers protection from discrimination on the grounds of association with disability or age • This applies to employment, and the supply of goods and services • Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act (2004) • Local Authority Carers Assessments must take account of carers’access to work, learning and leisure
Leading good practice: Employers for Carers Employers membership forum, administered by Carers UK and designed to: • Provide a practical service to employers seeking to develop carer friendly workplace policies and practices • Identify and promote the business benefits of supporting carers in the workplace • Influence employment policy and practice to create a culture which supports carers in and into work Leadership Group committed to influencing policy: • Chaired by BT and supported by the specialist knowledge of Carers UK
How EfC influences practice • Promoting awareness andunderstanding • Changing the workplace culture • Developing workplace practice • Reviewing, implementing and embedding policies and practice for employees and line managers • Facilitating peer support • Face to face and virtual networks • Case Study: London Fire Brigade’s LFB Connect
How EfC influences policy • EfC Leadership Group • Committed to working with Government to inform policy and influence practice, bringing the employer voice to public debate • Originally an interest group brought together through the ACE National partnership, led by Carers UK, through which it: • Supported the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 and Work and Families Act 2006 • Contributed to the Employment Taskforce of the 2008 National Carers Strategy • Supported the launch of EfC as a membership forum
Key achievements since 2009 • Memorandum of Understanding with HM Government, March 2010: unique mechanism for engagement • Business Case for Supporting Carers in, and into, Employment, Annexe to Recognised, Valued and Supported, ‘refreshed’ National Carers Strategy, November 2010 • Conditions for Carers in Employment, April 2011 • Response to Government’s Modern Workplaces consultation, August 2011 • Care Summit, June 2012, hosted jointly by EfC and HM Government, exploring new models for care services • Co-chair of subsequent Task and Finish Group
Next steps • Task and Finish Group report, March 2013 • Evidence base for supporting carers in and into employment • Evidence base for investing in care services as a condition for employment • Evidence from Europe • Growing the employer voice in the care debate • Care: the new childcare? • Growing employer membership of the forum to roll out good practice • Growing the forum model beyond the UK
Care and Technology in the 21st Century Madeleine Starr MBE Emily Holzhausen Carers UK
Challenges and opportunities • Challenges for 21st century societies • Demand for care • Demand for work • Globalisation • Opportunities through technology • Transformation of health and care delivery, and greater sustainability through cost efficiencies, systems integration and new workforce practice • Flexible working and flexible caring to sustain more productive,healthier and longer working lives • New markets in health and care technologies
What do we mean by technology? • Anything that works! • Internet: information, access to products and services, peer support, workplace support, community support • Telehealth • Telemedicine • Telecare • Telerehabilitation • Mobile technologies • Apps for health and care • Self care: Wii-Fit, Carewell,Healthvault
Opportunities for health and care • Service solutions and cost efficiencies • WSD findings: reduced hospital admissions, less time spent in hospital and A&E, lower mortality rates • 2020 Health: £1billion savings and better outcomes through scaled telehealth solutions • Scotland Telecare Development Programme and Digital Wales: health and care service efficiencies • Three Million Lives: targets for supporting long term health and care needs • New ways of working across health and care
Threats for health and care • Public funding constraints on ‘invest to save’ • Poor service integration • Workforce buy-in • New and untested commissioning structures • Poorly developed and fragmented market, public and private • Lack of awareness of new technologies • Poor perception of new technologies
Opportunities for families and carers • Better access to advice and information • Better access to products and services • Personalised and cost effective service solutions • A life outside caring, enabled by flexible services • Work • Community participation • Leisure
Threats for families and carers • Digital exclusion • Affordability • Accessibility • Reliability • Lack of awareness of products and services • Lack of information on accessing products and services • Inflexible service solutions: ‘one size fits all’ • Poorly developed private purchase market
Opportunities for employers • Delivering workplace support forcarers • Information and signposting • Training, e.g., Knowledge Calls • Peer support, e.g., virtual carers networks • Delivering workplace support for managers • Online resources, including training • Virtual ‘Lunch and Learn’ and webinars • Delivering flexibility • Remote working • Remote caring
Threats for employers • Internal • Lack of awareness of issuesforcarers • Lack of awareness of technology solutions • Fear of opening the ‘flexibility floodgates’ • Line management resistance • External • Poor or patchy adviceandinformation on products and services • Poor or patchy flexible service delivery
Opportunities for the economy • Sustainable health and care systems • New models of service delivery resulting in long term cost efficiencies • Sustainable workforce • Currently 300,000 carers are forced to give up work to care each year, at a cost of £5.3 billion • The cost to employers of replacing someone lost to caring equates to one year of their salary • New markets in health and care technologies, including for private purchase
Threats for the economy • ‘Valley of death’:challenges in bridging the gap between technology R&D and implementation • Systems resistance: lack of vision • Lack ofinvestment in new markets or new market players • Short termism: failure to act on demographic realities
Next steps • Identifying policy levers • Health and Wellbeing Boards and JSNAs • Clinical Commissioning Groups • Delivering Care Markets for Quality and Choice: local Market Position Statements • Identifying investment levers • Three Million Lives • Plan for Growth • DALLAS • 2013 Comprehensive Spending Review
Carers UK • Websites: • www.carersuk.org • www.employersforcarers.org • madeleine.starr@carersuk.org • emily.holzhausen@carersuk.org