Carers Week 2023 will run from the 5th - 11th June 2023, with organisers highlighting the ongoing problems faced by the UK's 7.7 million working carers in terms of balancing their working lives with their caring responsibilities.
Carers Week
Carers Week is an annual campaign run by Carers UK, with the assistance of other charities, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by unpaid carers, including working carers.
This main focus upon this years Carers Week will be "recognising and supporting carers in the community." Carers UK state that this is about increasing awareness of the contribution "unpaid carers make to society. Politicians, employers, health and social services, businesses, education providers and members of the public all have a role to play in raising awareness of caring and making sure carers are able to access the information and support they need."
Working Carers
The position of working carers will feature heavily in Carers Week 2023. Carers UK point out that "As many as 7.7 million people in the UK now juggle their unpaid caring responsibilities with paid employment. Balancing work and care can be a real struggle, with many [working] carers saying they are tired, stressed and struggling to manage their own physical and mental health....[Working carers] urgently need more support to ensure they can remain in work, including a right to Carer’s Leave."
Moreover, Carers UK have several ongoing campaigns in relation to working carers, including pressing for the statutory right to Carer's Leave, making caring the 10th protected characteristic under the Equality Act, and campaigning for additional financial support for carers, including working carers, to assist with dealing with the cost of living crisis.
Carers UK have been campaigning for a statutory right to Carer's Leave for working carers for a considerable period of time, as we have highlighted in previous articles.
Whilst Carers UK's campaign has focused upon obtaining a statutory right to paid Carer's Leave, back In September 2021 the Government did in fact announce that working carers would receive a new statutory right to 1 week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave. It was anticipated that this new legislation would form part of a new Employment Bill, and that the Employment Bill would be included in the 2022 Queen’s Speech. However, ultimately no new Employment Bill materialised, and nor did any legislation to introduce a new statutory right to 1 week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave.
Consequently, Liberal Democrat MP, Wendy Chamberlain, brought forward a Private Members Bill with a view to introducing a statutory right to 1 weeks unpaid Carer’s Leave.
Moreover, the absence of any proposed Government legislation to introduce the proposed new statutory right to 1 week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave in the Queen’s Speech prompted the Conservative MP, Dame Caroline Dinenage, to ask the then minister for small business, consumers and labour markets, Paul Scully, what the timetable as regards Carer’s Leave was. He stated that the Government remains “committed to unpaid Carer’s Leave and indeed will introduce it when parliamentary time allows.“ Ultimately, the Government decided that the best way of following through on that was to back Wendy Chamberlain’s private members bill.
As a result of obtaining Government backing, Wendy Chamberlain's Private Members Bill is now likely to become law in 2023, and should come into force sometime in 2024 or 2025. It is due to have its 3rd reading in the House of Lords on the 19th May 2023.
Commenting upon these developments, the Chief Executive of Carers UK, Helen Walker, welcomed the Private Members Bill. She stated: "In the longer term, we would like to see Carer’s Leave paid but passing this Bill would be a very important step in recognising and supporting carers in employment."
Another campaign that Carers UK are running to improve the position of working carers is to make caring the 10th protected characteristic under the Equality Act, as we highlighted in a previous article.
The only protection that working carers currently have under the Equality Act 2010 is under section 13, which covers discrimination by association. Carers UK contend that that only provides working carers with limited protection, arguing that whilst the "provision is important,.....the law is not clearly written and understandable. It is also not as direct as the nine protected characteristics which are clearly stated."
Raising Awareness Of The Role Of Carers
As stated, the principal objective of Carers Week 2023 is to increase awareness of the contribution "unpaid carers make to society," including that made by working carers. Indeed, in terms of the agenda for Carers Week 2023, Wednesday 7th June 2023 will focus upon "work and employment."
As long ago as 2013, a Government report entitled "Supporting Working Carers: The Benefits to Families, Business and the Economy", found that working carers played a vital role within society and that "better support for working carers would give businesses and the UK economy a much needed boost and would save taxpayers £1.3 billion a year."
