Carers UK says about 1,500 Britons a day are quitting paid work to become unpaid carers, with more than a million people leaving the workplace to look after ageing, ill or disabled loved ones in the past two years. The charity estimates one in five employees, equivalent to 6.7 million people, face career and financial sacrifices to combine paid work and care, and around 20% of UK adults, or 11 million people, report unpaid care duties. In Carers UK’s survey 22% of carers had reduced their hours, 34% were working less than eight hours a week, and about 10% had turned down promotions or taken lower-paid roles; the doubling in people quitting paid work to care over seven years carries an estimated annual economic cost of £37 billion. Emily Holzhausen, Carers UK’s director of policy, said these figures represent people forced into difficult decisions about careers, financial security and futures. Carers UK is calling for stronger employment rights for unpaid carers including a statutory entitlement to 10 days’ annual paid carer’s leave, and it urged Louise Casey’s independent review of adult social care, due to report in the next few months, to put carers at the centre of reform. The report includes the case of midwife Jacqui Hylton, 58, who left a 30-year NHS career two years ago to care for her then 86-year-old mother Winnie after moving from Hertfordshire to Leeds, saying caring has left her financially worse off and unable to maintain professional accreditation. A government spokesperson thanked Carers UK and said ministers want to ensure there are good jobs for carers who want to work alongside managing caring responsibilities.
