The Carers Week Report 2025, Caring About Equality (the Report), highlights the growing number of unpaid carers in the UK and the significant impact caring responsibilities have on employment and career progression. For employers, the findings present both a challenge and an opportunity to build a more inclusive and supportive workplace.
Key findings from the report:
- An estimated 11.9 million people in the UK are currently providing unpaid care.
- 1 in 5 adults are balancing unpaid care with full or part-time work.
- The highest proportion of carers are aged 55–64.
- Carers are more likely to reduce hours, decline promotions, or leave employment altogether.
- Around 600 people a day leave work to provide unpaid care.
- Women, ethnic minorities, and lower-income workers are disproportionately affected (as they are more likely to provide care).
- Many carers report struggling with their own health and wellbeing (as they struggle to prioritise their own needs).
There is a clear trend, people are living longer, more individuals are managing long-term health conditions and care is increasingly being delivered at home. As a result, caring responsibilities are becoming a more common part of everyday life, something employers should be increasingly aware of when shaping workplace policies and support systems.
Carer’s leave: a legal overview
Statutory carer’s leave was introduced in April 2024, enabling employees to take up to one week of unpaid leave per year (on a rolling 12-month basis) from day one of employment to provide or arrange care for a dependent with a long-term care need.
Who qualifies as a ‘dependent’?
- A spouse, civil partner, child, or parent.
- Someone living in the same household as the employee (excluding boarders, lodgers or tenants, or people employed by the employee).
- Someone who reasonably relies on the employee for care (e.g. an elderly neighbour).
What constitutes a ‘long-term care need’?
A dependent has a long-term care need if they:
- have an illness or injury (physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months,
- have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, or
- require care for a reason connected with their old age.
How can leave be taken?
Carer’s leave may be taken:
- in increments of half or whole working days, which need not be consecutive days; or
- up to a maximum of one continuous week.
Employer obligations
Employers cannot refuse a request for carer’s leave but may ask the employee to take it at a different time (to be agreed within a month of the request) if their absence would cause serious disruption to the business.
Legal protection for carers
Employees are protected from:
- Detriment for taking or requesting carer’s leave; and
- Unfair dismissal if the reason is connected to carer’s leave.
Other legal considerations
- Being a carer is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, but a career may be protected by associative discrimination (e.g. being treated unfairly due to association with a disabled person).
- The duty to make reasonable adjustment only applies to a disabled person.
- Employers should be mindful of the risk of indirect discrimination, particularly when considering flexible working requests or where policies disproportionately affect carers (who as noted above tend to be women and those from ethnic minorities).
- Employers should be particularly mindful that under section 19A of the Equality Act a carer may also bring claims of indirect discrimination based on a protected characteristic (e.g. disability or age), even if they themselves do not hold that characteristic, provided they share the same disadvantage.
Getting it wrong can be costly, as illustrated in the case of Mrs Fellows v Nationwide Building Society (2023). The Employment Tribunal awarded £345,708 in compensation after finding that Mrs Fellows had been unfairly dismissed—under the guise of redundancy—while employed on a ‘homeworker’ contract. Her need to work from home stemmed from her role as a carer for her disabled mother. The Tribunal held that her dismissal amounted to both unfair dismissal and indirect (associative) discrimination on the grounds of disability.
Other relevant statutory leave entitlements
- Time off for dependents: employees are entitled to reasonable unpaid time off to deal with emergencies involving dependents (however this is not intended for long-term care needs).
- Parental leave: employees (who have been continuously employed for more than a year) can take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid leave to look after a child up to their 18th birthday (limited to 4 weeks’ leave each year in blocks of the whole week).
Proposed changes and recommendations
The Employment Rights Bill proposes to:
- provide a right to paid carers’ leave (likely to be at a statutory rate of pay);
- make parental leave a day one right for employees;
- require large employers (250+ employees) to publish a gender equality action plan and to consider what support they offer to unpaid carers within their workforce (as women are disproportionately affected).
The report suggests that the Government should go further, recommending a right of up to six months of unpaid carer’s leave to help carers remain in the workforce during periods of intensive care needs.
What can employers do?
With 1 in 5 employees juggling work and care, proactive employers can gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining talent. The report highlights that many carers feel forced to step back from work or career progression, impacting gender equality, workforce diversity and leading to the loss of valuable skills and experience for the businesses. Getting it wrong can also lead to costly tribunal claims.
- Audit your workforce to understand the scale of caring responsibilities and understand challenges faced.
- Consider what support you currently offer to carers.
- Review policies on carer’s leave, flexible working, and absence.
- Train managers to have supportive, informed conversations.
- Promote a carer-positive culture through leadership and visibility.
- Check in regularly with employees who are carers to ensure support is in place.
- Enhance support beyond statutory rights—consider paid leave, emotional support, phased returns, and mentoring.
- Embed carer support into talent management and recruitment strategies.
- Target recruitment of current or former carers with tailored training or return-to-work programs.
Conclusion
The Carers Week Report 2025 is a timely reminder that unpaid carers are a vital part of the workforce. Employers who proactively support carers not only reduce legal risk but also foster a more inclusive, resilient, and loyal workforce.
This is only intended to be a summary and not specific legal advice. Should you require assistance, please contact a member of our team.
