Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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effect to their provision of support services and the amount people need to contribute
financially. Local Authorities all over the country are cutting the amount of ‘care’ funding
available, tightening eligibility criteria, and increasing charges for those who are still eligible for
‘care’ to be able to live independently. 141 (See Appendix: 36)
A disproportionate number of carers are women - Of the carers across the UK, 3.4 million are
female (58%) and 2.46 million are men (42%). One in seven young Pakistani and Bangladeshi
women who have a paid job are also carers – compared with just one in 20 young white British
women. 142 Over 50% of women will have been carers before they are 60 and are more likely to give
up paid work to care. The impact of caring can be detrimental to their physical and mental health,
with carers twice as likely to have a mental health problem or be ‘permanently sick or disabled’. 143
(See Article 12) Employees with caring responsibilities are two-to-three times more likely to be
in poor health than those without. Women are much more likely to combine part-time work with
caring: of the 662,000 carers who work part-time, 89% are women. (See Article 11) One in five
carers aged 45-59 are women who work full-time. 144 Working carers, especially women, are more
likely than other workers to work from or near home. Two thirds (67%) of women caring for 50
hours or more each week work within 5km of their home, compared with 55% of working women
who are not carers. A need to work near to home limits the range of jobs carers are able to do.
These are women at the peak of their careers; if they were forced to leave work they would find
it extremely difficult to return and as a result their pensions are likely to be significantly reduced.
Research has shown that older women in the UK are more likely to be carers than older men. They
are also more likely to care for longer hours than men. 145 Older carers represent a sub-group of
carers with special needs that are not necessarily met by present service provision. 146
Changes to DLA will affect carers as well as those receiving care. If someone currently receiving
the middle or higher level rate of DLA is re-assessed onto the lower rate of PIP, or judged
not to be eligible at all, then not only will they lose money but their carer will lose their Carers
Allowance. Three quarters of the people claiming Carer’s Allowance, the main benefit for
carers, are women. 147 (See Appendix: 36) Disabled people and carers are already at high risk of
living in poverty and a further reduction in benefits could lead to severe hardship. A carer in this
situation would have to move onto Universal Credit and it is not clear whether they would then
be expected to look for work, even though they are still responsible for full-time care.
We welcome the fact that Government policy to support carers will predominantly help women.
Women carers will benefit from the wider reforms to the pension system, particularly the
reduction in the number of qualifying years for the full Basic State Pension to 30. (See Appendix:
19) Since April 2006 carers have also had the right to request flexible working from their
employer and more than 2.6 million carers are eligible for this right.
Recommendation:
Monitor the impact on informal carers of public sector service reductions and
introduce a carer’s allowance post-retirement
141. Disabled People Against Cuts (2010) ‘Disabled people feel their lives are under threat’ www.l-r-c.org.uk/files/DPAC_cuts1.pdf Accessed on:
15/02/2012
142. Carers UK: Factsheet provided for older women’s shadow report, March 2011
143. Carers UK (2009) Facts about carers 2009 http://www.carersuk.org/professionals/resources/briefings/item/404-facts-aboutcarers-2009
144. Carers UK: Factsheet provided for older women’s shadow report, March 2011
145. DelBono, E, Sala, E and Hancock, R (2009) Older carers in the UK: are there really gender differences? New analysis of the Individual
Sample of Anonymised Records from the 2001 UK Census. Health Soc Care Community, 17 (3). pp. 267-273.
146. Age UK (2010) Invisible but Invaluable, campaigning for Older Carers. Age UK: London http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/
Campaigns/ID9494%20Invisible%20But%20Invaluable%20Report.pdf?dtrk=true
147. Carers UK: Factsheet provided for older women’s shadow report, March 2011
Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013 147