Working Carers: helping carers get into work, and stay in work

Restart is an employment support programme launched in June 2021 in England and Wales aiming to provide tailored and intensive support to unemployed individuals to help them achieve sustained work. 540,000 people (participants) have received 12 months of support on the scheme as of October 2024.

An ageing UK population and a combination of other socio-demographic factors have resulted in unpaid carers being one of the fastest growing demographics within the UK working age population. In general, carers are less likely to be in paid employment and less likely to work full-time than the rest of the population. It is also difficult to re-enter the workforce once caring has finished, an issue which worsens the longer carers are out of the workforce. 

Employment support services are expected to have an increasingly important role to play in supporting carers into employment. The research described in this report aims to better understand the experiences of carers, highlight good practice and improve support by taking a multi-stakeholder approach to examining current activity within the Restart programme and amongst employers. In this research we have used the Carers Trust definition of a carer, that is anyone who provides unpaid care to a family member or friend “who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.” We have not included parents caring for children, unless the child has a long-term condition or disability.

A multi-method approach was taken comprising: an evidence review; interviews with carers, employment support advisers and employers; and analysis of programme management data. Examples of effective employment support and work arrangements for carers found in our research are highlighted as recommendations at the end of each section.