Carers and Work Clare-Anne Magee General Manager Carers NI

Who are Carers?

• Carers provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner.

• Other more restrictive definitions exist that relate to eligibility for services – both for benefits and in health and social care

• Difference between Carer and Careworker

• 220,000 carers in Northern Ireland • 3 in 5 of us will be a carer at some point • Most common age for caring is 45-59 yrs old • 12% of carers look after more than one person • 15% of the NI workforce are carers • Main benefit for carers is Carers Allowance £62.70 per

week if eligible • Each year, carers in NI save the NI government £4.6

billion

Carers in Northern Ireland

Identifying as a carer…

• 58% carers took over a year to recognise their role

• 1 in 4 carers took over 5 years to recognise their role

• 1 in 10 carers took over 10 years to recognise their role

• 91% carers said they missed out on financial or practical

support as a result of not identifying themselves as a

carer sooner

Some groups of carers such as parent carers, mental

health carers and distance carers take longer than average

to identify as carers

Impact of unsupported

caring

• Income

• Social Isolation

• Health and emotional wellbeing

What would make a difference

to carers?

• A decent income

• Respite/short breaks

• Responsive support services

• Recognition

• Information

NIPSA conference

“Conference, in an environment where the NHS is under greater pressure day by day and more and more staff have greater caring responsibilities than ever before, both for their children and their parents or other family members, many public sector employers have been slow to develop carer friendly policies. Conference therefore calls upon the incoming General Council to engage with the Civil Service and other Public Sector employers with a view to developing policies for carers to enable them to both continue their employment and enable them to fulfil their caring responsibilities.”

• Becoming ‘a carer’ is not in anyone’s career plan

• Carers are not a static group – in NI 70,000 people move into a new caring role each year

• 3 out of 5 people will care at some stage in their working lives - 80% are of working age

• Half of all carers are balancing work and care

• In NI (2011), 9,044 carers were combining fulltime work with 50+ hours care

Working Carers

• 7 out of 10 carers under 50 and 8 out

of 10 carers aged 50 – 60 reported being ‘forced’ to give up work

• Nearly 80% of carers wished to return to work if they could

“Work offers a life beyond caring – a normal life”

Do Carers Want to Work?

• The peak age for caring is between 45 and 64 – when many employees will have gained valuable skills and be in senior positions.

• A survey sponsored by BT found that 50% of carers at work experienced stress.

• “Stress-related absence down by 26% by offering flexible working”

Why Support working carers?

Providing support to carers can achieve: • Lower staff turnover • Reduced recruitment & training costs • Greater productivity (BT estimate: 21%) • Lower absenteeism • Higher staff morale • More creativity and energy

“The cost of recruiting is incomparable to the cost of 2-3 days emergency leave”

• Carers can still be forced to give up work due to lack of care services or flexibility at work

• Attitudes of front-line managers are crucial

• Carers often face significant barriers in

returning to work, and risk long-term financial and social disadvantage

Barriers to caring and work

• Flexible starting and finishing times • Compressed working hours • Annualised working hours • Home-working and tele-working • Flexible holidays to fit in with respite

arrangements • Access to a telephone • Reserved or nearby car parking spaces • Reasonable notice if shift patterns are

changing or overtime is required • Reliable, responsive social care services

What helps working carers?

Employers for Carers

• Made up of Carers UK and employers

• Membership organisation

• Employers have the support they need to retain and manage employees with caring responsibilities

• Practical advice and support for employers inc. policy development, good practice, identifying carers in the workplace, signposting for support and understanding of carers needs

• Over 120 EfC members across UK inc BT, PwC, NHS England, Centrica

• Carers & Direct Payments Act NI (2002)

• Caring for Carers (Jan 2006)

• Employment Relations Order (1999)

• The Work and Families Act (2006)

• Section 75, Northern Ireland Act (1998)

Relevant Legislation in NI

Latest policy developments

• Draft Programme for Government (2016)

• Bengoa Report

• Health and Wellbeing 2026

• Review of Adult Care and Support

Key provisions of the Carers and

Direct Payments Act

• Gives carers the right in law to a Carers Assessment

• Gives Trusts the power to give services to carers (doesn’t

place a duty on them)

• Makes Direct Payments accessible to more people

• Places a duty to inform on HSC Boards and Trusts.

• Recognises children adversely affected by caring as ‘children

in need’ under the Children Order.

What is a Carers Assessment/

Carer Support Plan?

• Way of Identifying the needs of a carer

• Looks at carers role and how it affects them

• Looks at what they can realistically do and what

support they may need to do it

• The Act gives carers the legal right to a carers’

assessment, separate from the person being

cared for

• This assessment can be carried out even where

the person being cared for refuses a community

care assessment

Carer Co-ordinators

Belfast HSC Trust Lynne Calvert 028 95046108 Margaret McDonald 028 95046702 South Eastern HSC Trust Joan Scott 028 97565456 Northern HSC Trust Claire Campbell 028 27661377 Western HSC Trust Cathy Magowan 028 66344163 Southern HSC Trust Patricia McCrink 028 30834325 Clare Forsythe 028 30834252

Carers Allowance

A weekly payment of £62.70

Available only to carers over 16yrs of age who meet the eligibility

criteria:

Caring for 35+ hours a week

Person you care for must claim middle or higher rate of DLA care

component or Attendance Allowance or any rate of daily living

allowance under PIP

Take home pay is £116 per week or less after deductions

Must not be in full time education Satisfy UK presence and residence conditions Disability and Carers Services Unit 0300 123 3356

Overlapping Benefits

Carer’s Allowance cannot usually be paid if you receive

one or more of the following benefits:

• Contributory Employment and Support Allowance

• Incapacity Benefit

• Maternity Allowance

• Bereavement or widow’s benefits

• Severe Disablement Allowance

• Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

• State Retirement Pension

NB If you claim Carer’s Allowance the amount of means-tested benefit

paid to the person you look after can sometimes be reduced.

Article 10 of the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 gives employees the right to take (unpaid) time off:

• to deal with any unexpected or sudden

emergencies which may arise affecting dependants

• ‘and to make any necessary longer-term arrangements’

Employment Relations Order -Emergency Leave

Work and Families Act (2006)

• From 6th April 2007, employees who care for

a spouse, partner, civil partner, near relative or

someone living at the same address have had

the right to request flexible working

• Their employer has a statutory duty to

consider their requests, if they have been

employed for 26 weeks or more.

Supports available to carers…

• Key worker involved with person being cared for • Carer Co-ordinators • Issue specific carers groups (eg Mencap, Alzheimer’s

Society, Macmillan, MS Society etc) • Training (manual handling, stress management, carers

rights etc) • Trust websites (under Carers Services) • Carers Page NI Direct

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/caring-someone

• Carers Rights Guide • Carers NI – advice & information (membership

organisation) www.carersni.org

• Regional organisation working as part of Carers

UK

• Provide information and advice to carers and

professionals (Email and telephone advice

service)

• Provide Carers Support (Northern Trust project)

• Campaigning and Lobbying for Carers Rights

• Provide tailored training to carers, professionals

and front-line workers on a range of carers issues,

carers assessments, rights, benefits etc

Contact us Carers NI Advice and Information Service

028 9043 9843 advice@carersni.org www.carersni.org

Employers for Carers www.employersforcarers.org

Follow us

@CarersNI CarersNorthernIreland