Title Page
Contents
Acknowledgements 9
The Authors 10
Summary 11
1. Introduction 17
1.1. Caring and employment 17
1.2. Research aims of the study 18
1.3. Methodology 19
1.4. Recruitment of respondents 19
1.5. The sample 20
1.6. Data collection 23
1.7. Ethics 23
1.8. Interpretation and analysis of data 24
1.9. Report structure 24
2. Policy context and literature review 25
2.1. Policy context 25
2.1.1. Recent legislation 25
2.1.2. New Deal for Carers 26
2.2. Literature review 28
2.2.1. Working carers 28
2.2.2. Combining work and family caring 29
2.2.3. Financial implications of caring 30
2.2.4. Support for working carers 31
2.2.5. Carers aspirations and decisions around work and retirement 32
2.3. Summary 34
3. The roles and impact of being a carer 37
3.1. Caring tasks 38
3.1.1. Low-level caring or tending 39
3.1.2. Moderate caring 40
3.1.3. Intensive caring 40
3.1.4. Challenging behaviour 42
3.1.5. Other care-related activities 42
3.2. Carers' roles 43
3.2.1. Feeling and being responsible for the cared for person 44
3.2.2. Interpreter 44
3.2.3. Monitoring self-care 44
3.2.4. Arranging, monitoring and supplementing services 46
3.2.5. Caring for more than one person 46
3.3. The impact of being a carer 47
3.3.1. Being and becoming a carer 47
3.3.2. Social impact 49
3.3.3. Impact on health 51
3.3.4. Working and caring 53
3.3.5. Financial impact 53
3.4. Summary 54
4. How caring responsibilities affect people's decisions about employment 55
4.1. Introduction 55
4.2. Nature of employment 56
4.3. Role of employment 57
4.3.1. Interviewees who were caring, working 57
4.3.2. Respondents who had ceased caring and were working 59
4.3.3. Respondents who were caring and not working 59
4.3.4. Respondents who had ceased caring and were not working 60
4.4. Carers who were working: combining caring and employment 60
4.4.1. Key characteristics and themes 60
4.4.2. Restrictions on work 63
4.5. Carers who were not working 64
4.5.1. Key characteristics and themes 64
4.5.2. Reasons for leaving work 65
4.6. Summary 67
5. The role of employers 69
5.1. Introduction 69
5.2. Flexible working 69
5.2.1. Importance of flexible working 69
5.2.2. Self-employment 70
5.2.3. Working from home 72
5.2.4. Time off 72
5.2.5. Term-time working 73
5.2.6. Agency work 74
5.2.7. Informal flexibility 74
5.3. Support from employers 76
5.3.1. Official policy on employing carers 76
5.3.2. Employer support 76
5.3.3. Line managers 79
5.3.4. Support from colleagues 81
5.3.5. Culture of the organisation 83
5.3.6. Employer trust 84
5.3.7. Limits to support 84
5.3.8. Disempowered employees 85
5.3.9. Need for a range of sources of support 86
5.4. Summary 86
6. The role and effectiveness of informal and formal sources of support for carers 87
6.1. Support from formal agencies 87
6.1.1. The NHS 88
6.1.2. Social services and social care 89
6.1.3. Voluntary sector 95
6.1.4. Support from family and friends 99
6.2. Cross cutting issues 101
6.2.1. Support, information and advice located in one place 101
6.2.2. Variable support from services and limited integration 102
6.3. Summary 103
7. The role of the DWP and Jobcentre Plus in supporting carers to remain in, or return to, the labour market 105
7.1. Jobcentre Plus offices 106
7.2. Provision of employment advice and support 108
7.2.1. Expertise about carers 108
7.2.2. The type of work being offered 108
7.2.3. Forward looking support 110
7.2.4. Work Focused Interviews 110
7.2.5. Better Off Calculation 111
7.3. Benefits 111
7.3.1. Complexity of benefits 112
7.3.2. Value of benefits 113
7.3.3. Inflexibility of benefit rules 114
7.4. Summary 115
8. Case histories 117
8.1. Balancing work and caring, but for how much longer 117
8.2. Working and caring: split shifts and split lives 118
8.3. Working but struggling 119
8.4. A life of reconciling care and work 120
8.5. Self-employment as a solution to caring responsibilities 121
8.6. Not working but would like to work 123
8.7. Ceased caring and retraining to regain employment 124
8.8. Ceased caring and considering the different options 125
8.9. Employment not really possible at the moment 126
8.10. Summary 127
9. Conclusions 129
9.1. How caring responsibilities affect people's decisions about employment 130
9.2. The role and effectiveness of existing services for carers 132
9.2.1. The NHS and Social Services 132
9.2.2. The voluntary sector 133
9.2.3. Employers 133
9.3. The role and effectiveness of existing DWP services for carers 134
9.4. Policy implications of the research findings 135
9.4.1. DWP 136
9.4.2. Employers 137
9.4.3. NHS and social services 138
9.4.4. Voluntary sector 138
Appendix A : Fieldwork instruments 139
References 189
Table 1.1. Gender and age composition of the respondents 21
Table 1.2. Work status by age and gender 21
Table 2.1. Economic activity by provision of care among people aged 16-74 28
Table 3.1. Who is cared for by relationship and gender 38
Table 3.2. Residency by hours caring 39
Table 3.3. Work status by hours caring 39
Table 4.1. Overview of working and caring status of respondents, by age and gender 56
Table 4.2. Employer type 56
Table 4.3. Working status, by hours spent caring 56