Dear Minister,
Across Northern Ireland, many of the 220,000 people providing unpaid care for sick or disabled family members and friends want, and often, need employment opportunities.
They value having an identity outside of their caring role. They cherish the careers they’ve spent so long working toward. And they rely on their wage packets to meet the high costs of supporting someone who is unwell during an ongoing cost of living crisis.
Our unpaid carers should have the same opportunities in the labour market as everyone else in Northern Ireland, but far too often, the demands of caring and lack of support to juggle that role with employment means that their work life suffers.
Some carers are left running themselves into the ground as they manage the pressures of their job around significant caring duties – with severe consequences for their health and wellbeing. For others, the pressure becomes too great, and they’re forced to cut their working hours or leave their job entirely. One in three people with caring roles in Northern Ireland have been forced to quit work because of the demands of caring; and the full-time employment rate for unpaid carers here (34%) is significantly lower than the general adult population (47%). This leaves many living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet.
No single approach can fix this, but one of the most important interventions available is the delivery of dedicated and paid caring leave from work. Carer’s leave can provide staff with the time and space they need to perform caring duties away from their job, without the stress of trying to juggle employment at the same time, being penalised financially or having to use holiday leave for caring.
As is so often the case, the rest of the UK is already a step ahead of Northern Ireland, with the Carer’s Leave Act providing a landmark new legal right to unpaid carer’s leave from work in England, Scotland and Wales. This legislation will improve the life of every person in GB who is juggling employment and unpaid caring, and as a minimum, Northern Ireland needs to deliver parity for the local carer population.
But your pending Employment Rights Bill offers an opportunity to go even further – to deliver carer’s leave on a paid basis and ensure that carers here can take the time away from work that they need to meet their caring responsibilities and not lose wages in the process.
This is a priority for local carers – 34% of carers who have experienced barriers to employment say that paid carer’s leave would help them to return to work or increase their hours. The policy could be especially helpful in supporting women’s labour market participation, as they make up the majority (60%) of Northern Ireland’s unpaid carer population.
Research from Carers NI shows that paid carer’s leave would be good news for businesses and the wider economy as well – supporting greater staff retention for employers, saving Stormont millions of pounds per year in social security payments and bringing in even more public revenue through income tax and National Insurance contributions. It is a win-win for everyone.
Due to our ageing population and growing prevalence of long-term illnesses and disability, two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland will become an unpaid carer at some point in their adult life. Carer’s employment rights are therefore not just a major issue for many workers in Northern Ireland today – they will also become relevant for even more people in the future.
We are urging you to deliver the workplace protections these carers need and include paid carer’s leave in your Employment Rights Bill.
Yours sincerely,
Craig Harrison - Carers NI
Gerry Murphy - Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Rita Devlin - Royal College of Nursing
Carmel Gates - NIPSA
Peter Macklin - GMB
Taryn Trainor - Unite
Anne McVicker - Women’s Resource & Development Agency
Anne Devlin - Economic and Social Research Institute
Marie Marin - Employers For Childcare
Nuala Toman - Disability Action
Siobhán Harding - Women’s Regional Consortium
Alexandra Brennan - NI Women’s Budget Group
Kevin Higgins - Advice NI
Becca Bor - NI Anti-Poverty Network
Sarah Corrigan - Law Centre NI
Elaine Crory - Women’s Policy Group NI
Sarah Christie - Macmillan Cancer Support
Karen Sweeney - Women’s Support Network
Mary-Elaine McCavert - Brain Injury Matters
Sarah McCully-Russell - Parkinson’s UK Northern Ireland
Nuala Crilly - Waterside Women’s Centre
Patrick Malone - MND Association
Stewart Finn - MS Society
Catherine Barr - Women’s Centre Derry
Sophie Nelson - HERe NI
Eleanor Jordon - Windsor Women’s Centre
Lisa Maclean - Footprints Women’s Centre
Gareth Mulvenna - MindWise
Sheena McMullen - Action for Children
Jonna Monaghan - Women’s Platform
Alasdair O’Hara - Stroke Association