This year Carers week is focusing on Equality. With one of the daily themes reflecting on Work and Employment.
All employers should have an Equality, Diversity and inclusion policy. This aims to protect people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. This includes age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin) religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The Equality Act 2010 will also protect you if you are looking after someone who is elderly or disabled, against direct discrimination or harassment because of your caring responsibilities.
Did You Know?
- Over 2 million people become carers every year
- Approx 1 in 7 people at work are carers
- 90% of working carers are over 30 years of age
- 1 in 3 of us will become carers at some point in our lives
- Difficulties balancing work and caring can cause carers to leave employment
Are you a working carer or looking to get back into employment?
Looking to return to employment?
You bring many skills that an employer would be interested in, not just from your previous employment, but as a family carer you may now also have the following skills which could be valuable to an employer:- practical caring skills, listening and empathic skills understanding the needs of others, knowledge of the health and social care systems, excellent at multi-tasking, hard-working and patience.
Working family carer?
Many family carers juggle caring with working, we know this can be challenging and we want to support you and the organisation you work for to support you.
Are you aware of your rights?
As a working unpaid carer – you have a legal right to request flexible working, a right to time off, a right to carers leave.
Another Act to support you at work is The Carers Leave Act 2023, which ensures unpaid carers are entitled to time off work for your caring role.
What support do you need?
Suffolk Family Carers has a variety of support services to help you in your caring role. Please explore our website further or speak to our Hub on 01473 835477. You can discuss your caring role in full with one of our advisers who will support you and establish what you need at this time.
The two things we always recommend are:
Carers Assessment – This is a statutory obligation for unpaid carers to have an assessment of their need.
Family Carers Emergency Plan – this is a plan that is logged with Suffolk County Council, so if anything happened to you in an emergency , your plan could be activated and the support you detailed can be implemented.
Do you feel supported by your employer?
Yes? That’s great and we would like to understand what this means to you day to day.
Not so much? That’s okay, we have the skills and expertise to help your workplace to support you better.
Please take just 3 minutes to complete this survey to help us understand how we can improve support for family carers in employment.
Are you an employer/manager wanting to know how to identify and support family carers in your workplace?
You have a great opportunity to share your thoughts and concerns on supporting carers within your workplace by taking just 3 minutes to complete this survey.
We are excited to be working in partnership with Suffolk County Council with the CARING COMPANY AWARDS and you are invited to register with us for free to find out how you can succeed in embedding an inclusive and supportive culture for family carers in your workplace.
