Supporting Parents and Carers' Spotlight Day – Campaign Briefing

Date: 09 May 2008

Supporting Parents and Carers' Spotlight Day – Campaign Briefing

Fair Play for Working Carers.

Carers matter. Millions of disabled, elderly and vulnerable people rely on friends and family for care and support. Carers do a difficult, tiring and enormously important job that gets little recognition or reward.

Carers rarely choose to become carers - it's something that can happen to any one of us at any time. When it does happen, carers can feel that they don't have the same control over their lives as they had before.

This year we want to achieve three things on Carers' Spotlight Day:

• Highlight the pressures carers in Usdaw are under.
• Welcome the Government's current review of carers' needs and to press for properly funded changes to carers' rights and benefits that will make a real difference to working carers' lives.
• Let our members and colleagues know that Usdaw has been working hard to improve rights for carers in paid work.

The pressures of being a working carer

Financial worries

Caring for someone can put a real strain on the already tight budgets many Usdaw members currently live on. Often our members are forced to reduce their hours or take a job that pays less in order to juggle their caring responsibilities with work.

Caring for someone can be costly. It might mean paying higher fuel or telephone bills or needing to take unpaid time off to go to hospital or other appointments. Many of our members aren't able to take up extra hours of work as they lose out on Carer's Allowance. Others don't qualify for Carer's Allowance in the first place because they work full-time, despite the fact that they care full-time too. All of this adds up to working carers needing more financial support to help them stay in work.

Working hours

Usdaw campaigned for and won the extension of the right to request flexible working to carers of adults, which is very welcome. However we know that many of our members are still struggling to fit hours of work around their caring responsibilities. Too many carers are forced to give up work and pay, as they don't receive the flexibility and support they need from their employer. Rights to unpaid leave at a manager's discretion aren't much help to hard-pressed, low paid working carers. Carers need more support from employers and Government to stay in or take up paid work.

We welcome the Government's current review

Benefits, rights and support are crucial in enabling carers to stay in paid work. Usdaw has been working hard with employers and with Government to win a better deal for carers at work. We want to see fair play for carers.

Change is now on the horizon. At the moment Government is looking again at its National Carers' Strategy with a view to significantly improving carers' rights. Usdaw has taken a lead role in pressing for improvements and has made sure Government has heard the voice of our members. We are now waiting for the Government to publish its recommendations for change, due in late spring 2008.

Usdaw action

Usdaw has long been campaigning for these improvements - changes that we hope will make it easier for carers to juggle paid work with care and put more money in members' pockets to help them meet the extra costs of caring.

We want to let our members know that we are campaigning on carers' issues and that we understand the pressures they are under trying to juggle caring commitments with work demands. But we need your help to do this. The reps' pack contains everything you need to raise the profile of Usdaw's Supporting Parents and Carers' Campaign in your workplace.

Refer to the action plan for a step by step guide to making something happen on Carers' Spotlight Day, see the MP factsheet for advice about how to lobby your MP or use the order form to order campaign leaflets and posters.

Snakes and ladders

This year's Carers' Day is themed around the board game snakes and ladders. The snakes represent the many pitfalls and problems carers can face on a daily basis. The ladders are the opportunities that can be provided through Government support and trade union negotiations.

We want to make a real difference to carers by helping ensure they come across more ladders and less snakes in their everyday, working lives!

Parents and Carers' Spotlight Day - Campaign Briefing was correct at date of publication May 2008.

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 13-May-2008 00:19:01 EST