• 3 million people combine caring for a loved one with paid work.
• Every year, over 2 million people become carers, some overnight, some more gradually – so there is a new population of carers in the workforce every day.
• Carers make up 11% of the total UK workforce, 1 in every 9 employees.
• Eight out of ten carers are of working age, ie between 16 and 65.
• 90% of working carers are aged 30+ – in their prime employment years.
• In 2019 Carers UK released research that suggests figures have increased significantly since the 2011 census. The Juggling work and care report found that there are around 4.87 million people in the UK combining work and caring responsibilities, compared with the 3 million in the census 2011. This is 1 in 7 of all workers, compared with the previous figures of 1 in 9 workers.

The research below has been lifted from  the Census 2011, relevant research reports conducted by Carers UK, and other sources. 

• 58% of carers are female and 42% are male. Women are more likely to care in middle age, with 1 in 4 women aged 50-64 having caring responsibilities compared to 1 in 6 men.
• Male carers are more likely to be in work than females; six out of ten male carers are in employment, and 90% work full-time.
• Carers UK research on sandwich carers and the workplace showed that women were four times more likely than men to have given up work because of multiple caring responsibilities.
• Longitudinal data (for the period between 1991 and 2018) collected at intervals across adults’ lives show that half of women had provided care by age 46, eleven years before men, who on average had done this by age 57.

• Caring for as little as five hours a week can have a significant impact on employment prospects, with those caring for more than 10 hours a week at marked risk of leaving the labour market altogether.
• Men and women who care for 20 or more hours a week are much less likely to be in higher level jobs.
• Carers who are in employment are more likely to be working part time. Just over half of working-age people with no caring responsibilities were employed full-time (51%), compared to 38% of carers.
• 8 out of 10 carers are of working age, i.e. aged between 16 and 65 but carers are less likely to be employment than non-carers: 64% of working age carers are in employment compared to the national average of 74%.
• Each year over 2 million people have given up work at some point to care and 3 million have reduced working hours.

• Over 7 in 10 working carers have felt lonely or isolated in the workplace as a result of their caring responsibilities.
• Working carers pay a heavy penalty in terms of their own health. Those with heavy caring responsibilities are 2 to 3 times more likely than workers without caring responsibilities to be in poor health.
• For carers continuing to work the same hours, 1 in 6 (17%) say their job has been negatively affected by caring, i.e. lateness, tiredness and stress.

• There is evidence to show that the impact of staff turnover, absence and stress as a result of juggling work and caring could be costing UK businesses over £3.5 billion every year, so there are significant savings to be made by better supporting carers to manage work alongside caring.

• Leading companies have suggested that cumulatively, UK companies could save up to £4.8 billion a year in unplanned absences and a further £3.4 billion in improved employee retention by adopting flexible working.

• Carers and their families often face a heavy financial penalty: almost 1 in 3 (30%) of carers surveyed by Carers UK had seen a drop of £20,000 or more a year in their household income as a result of caring. Carers are also more likely to be in poverty than non-carers.