The Guardian ·
About 1,500 Britons a day quitting their jobs to become unpaid carers
More than a million people have left work to look after loved ones in the past two years, Carers UK says
About 1,500 Britons a day are quitting their jobs to become unpaid carers, as they try to balance their vulnerable relatives’ growing care needs with declining access to state-funded social care services.
Research estimates that more than a million people have left the workplace to look after ageing, ill and disabled loved ones in the past two years, highlighting the social challenges caused by UK’s rapidly changing demographic profile.
Unpaid caring is now a “widespread social and economic reality” for UK households, it says, with one in five employees – equivalent to 6.7 million people – facing career and financial sacrifices as they juggle paid work and care for family or friends.