The report, Women at Work, suggests that looking after older, disabled or seriously ill relatives should be treated much like maternity leave. The idea of a Carers Passport has been discussed in the report, as a way to ensure women can look after their families and jobs.
Author of the report Deborah Hargreaves is a former business editor of the Guardian and financial editor of the Financial Times and a founding director of the High Pay Centre independent think tank. Hargreaves produced the report for the independent charity Friends Provident Foundation. This supports the creation of a “fair, resilient and sustainable economic system that serves society.”
According to the Foundation, more than 600 people a day leave their jobs in order to look after a sick, disabled or elderly relative. The charity also said that more than 2.5 million people have quit their jobs in the past five years to care for somebody in their family whose age or level of illness or disability requires significant support.
Hargreaves interviewed several carers for the report. One interviewee, a woman who runs her own company in Wales, said, “Aged 51, as a menopausal mother of two girls, both under ten and with all their parenting needs, my husband and me found ourselves in the ‘caring for all sandwich.’”
Another of Hargreaves’ interviewees spoke about how the impact of taking an enforced career break to become a career can be significant. “I was a charity chief exec, but I went self-employed to look after my elderly parents. As a woman in my fifties, once I’d done that for a couple of years, no-one would take me on again, I had given up all my seniority.”
Julia Waltham, head of policy at Working Families, said on the current Carer’s Allowance, "Earning just £120 per week makes you ineligible for Carer's Allowance. Pay is crucial to parents and carers using their leave entitlements. Working Families is calling for the government to go further than the EU's work-life balance directive and introduce up to 10 days per year of paid carer's leave, alongside ensuring eight weeks of parents' 18 weeks parental leave entitlement is paid as per the directive, making using it more viable option for working parents".
