At least 1 in 10 of all people in the UK are unpaid carers – but over 10% of these (a growing trend, and estimated to be in the region of 1 million people by 2027) can never be fully recognised, or supported as such. This is because when unpaid carer legislation was passed, it was never assumed that an unpaid carer would separately also be self-employed or a small business owner.

Because of this oversight, none of the carer or business support services recognise they exist, and so don’t design or offer the specific types of assistance they need in comparison to other unpaid carers. As a result, this growing number of unpaid carers are twice as likely to be in poverty than any other type of carer who’s trying/needing to also remain ‘economically active’ – and their respective businesses’ productivity is at least 20% less than it would otherwise be (because the struggle to balance running a business with caring responsibilities means stalled growth, prevents the creation of new jobs, delays growth and investment plans, etc).

And unpaid care is an issue that’s increasingly affecting all businesses throughout all sectors – 600 people a day are having to leave paid employment because their unpaid caring roles are becoming unreconcilable with the needs of their employer (even after the introduction of the Carers Leave Act). This means businesses are losing the talent and skills that they rely on, and so creating knock-on effects on wider productivity, growth, other jobs, etc in these businesses who aren’t otherwise directly owned or led by unpaid carers.

Now combine all of this with the fact that less than 10% of all unpaid carers are eligible to apply for Carer’s Allowance because of its current design: people who needed to previously be employed to pay bills, buy food, etc now can’t work and can’t otherwise seek financial support via this scheme that’s seen as the solution by many to this need. This means over 500 people every day will be being forced into self-employment to try and resolve this tension and crisis in their lives: which will force them into further hidden obscurity because unpaid carers legislation won’t then recognise them as it currently does (being salaried is one of the statuses that current legislation and policy recognises an unpaid carer as being able to also be).

Frustratingly, the keys to start to untangle and resolve this growing economic time-bomb in the economy, and help better unpaid carers avoid ill-health or poverty themselves, are already in place.

Some ‘starters for 10’ which would require a simple line being added to existing legislation and wider/other support programmes =

• Add an addendum to existing unpaid carers legislation to recognise those who are also self-employed or small business owners – all the carer and business support services use this list to base the design of their services on, so this would immediately start to turn the wheel by these bodies then actively creating the supports that are needed.
• Extend the sick/fit note system to include a ‘carers note’. Most recognised unpaid carers are already registered as such on their medical notes with their GP, so this would simply extend an existing employment support provision that’s recognised as starting to help people remain in work after changes in their personal circumstances.
• The Access to Work programme, which supports the costs incurred by an employer in employing/retaining an employee due to their health needs, is based on the Equalities Act which (in theory) also covers unpaid carers. Widening this existing scheme could enable more employers to be able to invest in the resources needed to help retain some of the talent and skill that those 600 people a day are currently taking out of workplaces everywhere.

The topic of unpaid carers is always going to be politically sensitive, whichever colour badge we wear, or whichever party logo is being displayed inside No10 Downing Street.

Unpaid carers aren’t asking for special treatment – just the respect and dignity of being recognised as equally valid human beings alongside people who aren’t. And sometimes to do that, we’d like to ask for what seem to be some relatively small concessions: not just because it will make life more bearable for us, but because as shown here, it will ultimately make life (and the economy) better for all of us.

* Adrian Ashton became the sole unpaid carer for several family members after growing his own business consultancy for more than a decade. Having designed new approaches to balancing business management with caring responsibilities, he is invited to speak in national and global forms on the subject – the outcomes and impacts of which he openly reports against through his blog and a wider annual impact report on his business. Although he is not a member of the Liberal Democrat party, he is happy to share tea and break biscuits with anyone who is.