Social Care (Local Sufficiency) and Identification of Carers Bill

Seema Malhotra Excerpts

Friday 7th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Barbara Keeley]

Absolutely; I thank my hon. Friend for that point.

The Bill is also supported by British Gas, BT, Bright Horizons and PricewaterhouseCoopers because they believe that its measures are important. Caroline Waters OBE, the director of people and policy at BT and the chair of Employers for Carers, says:

“We are seeing the mounting costs, not just to families but to business of a care system that often cannot support carers trying to juggle work with care. Stimulating the care market can deliver an economic triple win—better services for families, the infrastructure to help employers retain skilled staff and a real boost to economic growth. The debate started 20 years ago with childcare and there is now a pressing need to bring the same focus and progress to care for older and disabled people. This Bill would start this important process by placing a duty on local authorities to ensure a supply of care as is already the case for childcare.”

Members of the Employers for Carers forum increasingly report staff leaving work at short notice to take on caring responsibilities. The peak age for caring is between 45 and 65, and that age frequently coincides with the peak of an employee’s skills, knowledge and experience. Losing such employees can lead to large retraining costs on top of recruitment costs.

A recent report by Dr Linda Pickard of the London School of Economics shows that carers giving up work to care costs about £1.3 billion a year in lost tax revenue and benefits. Also on costs to the economy, a recent report by Carers UK suggests that the failure to address the funding of adequate care provision, as other countries have done, means that we are missing out on jobs and growth.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is vital that we support carers of working age who are reducing their work hours and days because of the disproportionate impact it has on their pension savings and entitlements? The prospect of becoming a poor pensioner is not the right reward for those who give so much to families and our communities.

[Barbara Keeley]

Sadly, that is the case. We know that the care sector is underpaid, but that is nothing compared with the financial impact of giving up work to take on a caring commitment.