Zarah ChoudharyResearch from retirement specialist Just Group found one in 10 (10%) among 1,000 carers had given up work completely to handle their caring responsibilities, while a further 21% reduced their working hours.
Nearly a third (31%) of people aged 45 to 75 providing informal care to elderly family members said they had reduced their working hours or stopped work.
Fewer than four in 10 (37%) said their work life carried on as normal, while the remainder were mainly either retired (16%) or not working previously (14%).
Male carers were more likely than female to say their employment carried on as usual (43% versus 32%).
Of those who had stopped or reduced work, 24% said it had cost them up to £200 a month, and 34% said it cost between £201 and £500 a month.
The average amount in lost salary was nearly £539 a month (£6,468 a year), with one in six (17%) saying it had cost more than £1,000 a month.
The Carer’s Allowance is aimed at helping those providing informal care to elderly relatives; this tax year it is worth £81.90 a week (£4,259 a year) to those providing at least 35 hours a week care for a severely disabled person, provided their earnings are less than £151 a week.
The benefit is removed for earnings above this level.
One in five (20%) carers who had reduced or stopped work said they received Carer’s Allowance.
Nearly half (47%) said they knew about the benefit but did not claim it.
A quarter (25%) said they had heard of it but were not sure how it worked while the remaining 9% said they had never heard of it.
Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, said: “Caring for an elderly relative can be personally rewarding but is often a sacrifice in terms of income from employment where people stop work, reduce their hours or move to more flexible but less well paid positions.
“The economic benefit to the country from informal care is put at billions of pounds a year.
“But the vast majority of workers receive no direct support for the hours of caring they put in. It is literally a labour of love.”
The Carer’s Allowance will become more generous with a rise in the weekly amount paid to £83.29 – equal to around seven hours of the National Living Wage of £12.21 an hour – from April 2025 along with a rise in the earnings limit of £45 to £196 a week (£10,192 a year).
The Government said this will result in 60,000 more carers eligible for the benefit by 2029/30 while the 1.4 million currently claiming will be able to earn more from work before losing eligibility.
It is also reviewing the ‘cliff-edge’ approach that removes all the benefit if working hours exceed the limits.
Lowe added: “The amount of income and opportunity being lost due to people caring is immense, not just at a personal level but for the country as a whole in terms of lower economic activity and productivity.
“It reinforces the importance of putting in place a permanent ‘fix’ for social care.
“The more that people are able to plan and pay for themselves to receive the care they aspire to, the less the responsibility on family members and the country as a whole to look after them.”
