Every year over 2.3 million people begin a caring role, and a similar number finish caring (1).
4 million carers are of working age, 3 million of whom combine care and work (2).
3 out of 5 people will be carers at some point in their lives. Half of these carers are still caring five years later.
The number of carers is set to grow from 6 million to 9 million in the next 30 years (3).
The vast majority of carers (80%) are of working age (4), meaning that gaps in employment records, decreased earnings due to care and health problems caused by caring (5), which then becomes a barrier to work, all affect pension provision.
One in five carers give up work to care (6), and many more will reduce hours – with part time working having a long term impact on earning ability (7). It is not enough to ask carers to save to avoid poverty in retirement.
There is a gendered aspect to care and pensioner poverty. Women in their 40’s are the age/sex group cited to be least likely to be contributing to a private pension. Given that the peak age of caring is between 45 and 64 (8), when one in four people provide care, it is clear that caring responsibilities and inadequate pension provision a part of a lifecycle that connects to childcare and other barriers to pension provision that women face.
Sources
It Could Be You. A report on the chances of becoming a carer, Carers UK, London, 2001
Office of National Statistics, Census, 2001
It Could be You. A report on the chances of becoming a carer, Carers UK, London, 2001
Office of National Statistics, Census, 2001
Census 2001 found that over 225,000 people who provided more than 50 hours of unpaid care a week said they were in “not good health” themselves. More than half the people providing this much care were over 55.
print this page
