Increasing access to work for carers

Some thoughts in response to UK government's proposed PIP cuts and its impact on unpaid carers

Photo by Dominik Lange on Unsplash

For those reading this in the UK, you’ll no doubt be aware of the Labour government’s announcement this week of their proposals for welfare reforms. Whilst some of these are welcome (Right to Try and Unemployment Insurance), the overwhelming response from charities and many MPs across the house has been nothing short of an outcry.

Specific concern surrounds the proposed cuts to eligibility for PIP payments, the non-means tested Personal Independence Payments that 3.6 million people currently receive for a physical or mental health condition. The proposals focus on raising the score needed by applicants to a minimum of 4 points in at least one activity to qualify for the Daily Living element of PIP, from November 2026.

Having gone through the arduous task of applying for PIP for my older brother who has late diagnosed learning difficulties and autism, I am all too familiar with this benefit. Thankfully I was successful and he was awarded an Enhanced PIP, the most he can get. Winning this has made a huge difference to his life enabling him to pay for a PA/Support Worker to visit him through the week to help him with organising and managing his time, money, flat, emails, bills etc. She has been an enormous support, and without her, he simply wouldn’t manage. In addition, having an Enhanced PIP has granted him that all important recognition of need by social services; they use it as an indicator of need.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

My brother received 4 points for six of the ten categories so he is safely within the limit should he be reviewed. But, according to Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy & Public Affairs for Carers UK, there are many who have a genuine disability and who score highly overall but score below 4 in any one category. They would not be eligible for PIP.

Emily was speaking on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on 19 March to discuss the proposed changes, pointing out the real concern Carers UK have for unpaid carers who stand to lose out from this change. This is because PIP is a qualifying benefit for Carer’s Allowance in many cases, the benefit for those offering more than 35 hrs of care and earning less than £151 per week. There are a staggering 5.8 million unpaid carers in the UK, most of whom are women, many of whom rely on Carers Allowance and who stand to lose not just essential monthly top ups to the bank balances, but also benefits like NI payments which affect their pensions.

Many of these carers are already suffering from financial hardship with 1.2 million of those carers already in poverty, 400,000 in deep poverty. Others feel undervalued and unseen in often isolating and difficult circumstances, many having had to take career breaks to provide care for their extended family. I am one of those.

As someone who has had to stop work for a time to oversee the care of my brother and also my mother (as I wrote about in this post), I know something of what this is like. My career in the humanitarian sector had already been disjointed from caring for my children – regular overseas travel and a husband who worked long hours didn’t equate too well with raising our children. And just when I was hoping to return to full time work or a more responsible part time role, I found I was unable to do so.

Granted, I consider myself lucky in several ways. The care I do doesn’t require me to be on hand 24/7, I have a very good relationship with my mother (who I am honoured to support in her last years of her difficult life), and I have partner who is earning well enough to support us both - at least for the short term. But for someone with a Masters degree, a wealth of experience in cross-cultural policy analysis and communications as well as a love of working in teams, this has not been easy.

Returning to some kind of work has proved incredibly difficult – at least not without risking sacrificing my own health or my own immediate family’s needs. The main block I face is that most roles that suit my professional level are full-time, with job sharing a rare find. Recently I applied for a role that, whilst full time, was perfect - a niche role, one I had recently performed, and well. I figured I could ask for a job share if I got through to the final interview. I did, but my suggestion was met with a polite decline. Part time roles are either aimed at graduates, or are non-hybrid, or require a young person’s aptitude for ever changing technology etc. And so I have decided to pursue online training in an area that will enable me to work freelance and flexibly, building on a skill I already have. It is unlikely to boost my coffers much beyond buoying up my private pension, but it will give me much needed purpose, value and creative focus as I juggle my other responsibilities. I’m in my mid-50s, in case you’re wondering….

Not me but you get the picture…(Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash)

My situation is not typical, but it’s by far from unique. Thousands of women like me, who have had professional roles, are facing similar choices as their parents age whilst their children are still at home - or have left the nest but are still very much emotionally and financially tied. I met just two of those women on this platform this week: Sarah from

Sandwich Season

(who says she has found her ‘Caring Twin), and Anna from

Gen Xandwich

. The so-called Sandwich generation is growing as we live longer and women have children later. It’s not going away.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, former Paralympian, disability advocate and cross-bench peer (that’s someone in the House of Lords to those of you reading from outside the UK) was on the same Woman’s Hour programme. Her comment was that whilst we all agree that there is a genuine crisis in a soaring benefits bill, the solution can’t just be to make cuts that inevitably hit the vulnerable in our society – it must be about making work more accessible for the disabled, and in a genuine way. Similarly, we need to be making work more accessible for carers who often want, and need, to keep their hand in work, but find the current employment structure a barrier.

What we need are employers willing to try new ways of working that recognise the value of men and women who may not be able to give 100% of their lives to the organisation, but can give 100% of the time that they do have to offer. Take Christian Aid’s enlightened ethos:

‘We are actively encouraging racialised minorities, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people with caring responsibilities, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, women, and older workers to apply. This is because these groups are under-represented within our teams, especially at senior level, and we recognise and value the contributions members of these groups make to strong, creative and high performing teams.'

Yes, I realise that these kind of choices are far from easy for companies wrestling with their own margins in this tough economic climate we are currently in (and have been for some time). Hiring two people when you can hire one with all the overhead, onboarding and accounting work that involves will never be attractive. But didn’t we have these arguments 20-30 years ago about making work more accessible to women raising families? It took a global pandemic and zoom to make that a reality for many (myself included). And it demonstrated that different ways of working are in fact possible, such as the 4 day week (on 5 days pay) which has been proven to not just be better for employees, but also for productivity. Check out the inspirational Four Day Week Foundation for facts and inspiration, including their Mini Manifesto backed by the New Economics Foundation (ie its not pie in the sky thinking).

Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

We have to keep progressing, keep evolving to make work patterns fit current realities.

Government purses are getting smaller whilst the needs are increasing. Until the UK government pushes through genuine social care reform, the number of unpaid carers is only going to keep climbing. If we’re to support this growing army of tireless, overlooked and financially struggling carers, we need to find radical ways forward.

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