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Flexible working and better services improves unpaid carers’ employment prospects and health

It may be that combinations of support are most effective in supporting carers and helping to meet the diverse needs.
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Social care

The use of formal care services and flexible working arrangements leads to better employment outcomes among carers, research from LSE has found.

Researchers at LSE’s Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) reviewed international economic evidence on support for unpaid carers in Review of the international evidence on support for unpaid carers, published in the Journal of Long-Term Care. They found that where people with care needs received some kind of formal care service —such as personal assistants day care, or meals services — unpaid carers were more likely to be in employment. This was particularly evident for women and those providing longer hours of care.

The authors found increased provision of home care services is associated with increased labour force participation among those likely to provide unpaid care. Increased government spending on formal care provision was also found to be potentially cost-effective.

Supporting unpaid carers to reconcile their work and care commitments via flexible working arrangements was also shown to have positive outcomes. Flexible working hours, the option to work from home, and flexible leave, were associated with higher rates of employment for unpaid carers.

Additionally, there was some evidence that flexible working can mitigate the negative effects on the mental and physical health of unpaid care, especially women. The authors also noted the positive outcomes for employers through flexible working; improved retention, productivity, and good employee relations. This could result in lower costs for employers.

Despite these benefits, there appears to be a lack of awareness among employees in the UK of their right to request flexible working, and employees can be reluctant to ask for flexible working because of concerns about the effects on their employment or career if they did so.

Psychological therapy, training and education and support groups appeared to be one of  the most effective ways of directly supporting unpaid carers’ health and wellbeing, the authors note.

Nicola Brimblecombe, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE’s PSSRU, said:“We have aimed to contribute to the understanding of what best supports unpaid carers. We found the strongest evidence for three types of support: social care services for people with care needs, direct support for carers such as psychological therapies, and carer-supportive work conditions especially flexible working. It may be that combinations of support are most effective in supporting carers and helping to meet the diverse needs of both unpaid carers and people with care needs.”

Worldwide, there are many millions of people providing unpaid care for their family and friends. Yet providing unpaid care is known to negatively impact on carers’ health and wellbeing, and employment outcomes; resulting in costs to the individual and to society. The authors write that supporting unpaid carers is increasingly important to policy makers in the UK and elsewhere. Looking for interventions that influenced health and employment outcomes for unpaid carers, the authors note gaps in the evidence-base, including: “a dearth of evidence on cost-effectiveness and few evaluations of key recent policy initiatives”.

Additionally, the authors note that further research is needed to understand how best to support unpaid carers. However, these findings will be of interest to policy makers in the UK (in the context of recent policy, legislative, and funding changes for local authority and voluntary sector providers), as well as globally, with population ageing driving up the number of people who will need long-term care in the future.

For more information

Brimblecombe, N., Fernandez, J.-L., Knapp, M., Rehill, A., & Wittenberg, R. (2018). Review of the international evidence on support for unpaid carers. Journal of Long-Term Care, September, 25–40. Available at https://www.ilpnetwork.org/wp-content/media/2018/09/JLTCSeptember2018_Brimblecombe.pdf

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