Further to our previous article, the Centre For Ageing Better has just published a report called "The State of Ageing in 2019: Adding Life To Our Years." The report warns that the country is undergoing a huge "demographic shift" with the number of those aged 65 and over set to grow by more than 40% in just 2 decades, reaching over 17 million by 2036. However, at the same time, the report highlights that unless the country is better prepared for this, then the strain on services will mean that a large proportion of this group will end up living in poverty. Furthermore, the Office for National Statistics has just published its new report called, "Living Longer: Caring In Later Working Life," which found that: "Nearly three in five carers in England and Wales are aged 50 years and over, and one in five people aged 50 to 69 years are informal carers – this is the most common age group for having caring responsibilities." In response to this report, Catherine Foot, the Director of Evidence, at the Centre for Ageing Better, stated: "Caring responsibilities can significantly impact people’s ability to keep working. By the year people reach State Pension Age, nearly half of all people have already stopped working, and caring is a major contributor to this. We need to make flexible working the default option for everyone, legislate to introduce flexible, paid carers’ leave, and give carers a Right to Return to the same job." The Government is currently looking into the issue of paid leave for carers.
Paid Leave For Carers
The two aforementioned reports from the Centre for Ageing Better and the Office for National Statistics found that:-
- The number of people aged 65 or over is set to rise by more than 40% within 20 years, reaching over 17 million by 2036
- 39% of men and 31% of women in the poorest areas are likely to retire early due to ill health, compared with 6% of both men and women in the wealthiest group
- Those aged 65 and over will live half the remainder of their lives on average without disability, but when compared to the wealthiest, the poorest will die earlier and suffer from ill health for longer
- Poverty amongst pensioners is more prominent for women and ethnic minority groups.
- 23% of people aged 50-64 have 3 or more long term medical conditions
- 1.3 million people over the age of 55 live in homes that are damaging to their health
- When compared to the wealthiest groups, men over the age of 50 in the poorest groups are twice as likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, twice as likely to have arthritis, and are 3 times as likely to suffer from chronic heart diseaseÂ
- In 2016, the value of unpaid adult care provided was put at £59.5 billion, with 2 million adults requiring such care. The largest group providing such care were those aged 60-69 (23.9%), with the second highest being those aged 50-59 (22.3%).
- 24% of working women provide care, compared with 13% of working menÂ
The Office for National Statistics state in their report that all of this creates an additional quandary for society, and sums up the problem like this: "As our population ages, there will be increased need for informal care, but there is also a need for older people to stay in the workforce longer. People will need to ensure they have adequate funds to support their longer lives. There is also a policy drive to increase employment among older people, to help support the increased costs of providing health and social care services and State Pension provision that an ageing population brings." Well, how do you go about achieving that? The obvious solution, as the Centre for Ageing Better point out, is to create the right environment that allows older workers to remain in work, whilst at the same time they are able to carry out their roles as carers. That means, as Catherine Foot, points out, making "flexible working the default option for everyone, legislate to introduce flexible, paid carers’ leave, and give carers a Right to Return to the same job."
The Governments Position On Paid Leave For Carers
On the 13th July 2018, the Government provided its response to a report from the Work and Pensions Committee, entitled “Employment Support For Carers“. In its response, the Government stated that in relation to the issue of paid leave for carers, "[The] Government is committed to explore the case for statutory carer’s leave……We have set up an official level working group (DHSC, DWP, BEIS, HMT) to work on this. This includes considering the practical questions that arise around introducing dedicated employment rights with the support of analysts so that any emerging carer’s leave proposal is most effective." Nevertheless, this response was criticised by Committee Chair, Frank Field, on the basis that the response had ignored many of the Committee's other key recommendations, such as introducing the right to request flexible working from the outset of employment, as opposed to after 26 weeks continuous service with the same employer.
Carers UK: State of Caring Survey 2019
Carers UK are currently conducting a survey into the state of caring and would like carers to participate in the survey in order to "push carers up the agenda for policy makers and to campaign for recognition and change. In the next year we want to bring your voice and experience to the heart of decisions about: spending on care and support services....., financial support for carers......, [and] improving carers health and wellbeing." This includes continuing with the campaign for flexible working and paid leave for carers. Carers can participate in the survey by clicking on the link here.
