At an event last night held by membership forum Employers for Carers to help celebrate the launch of Carers Week.
Nearly one in seven UK workers are carers (according to the 2001 census), with official estimates that claim as many as one in three people will fulfill a carer's role at some point in their lives.
Hosting a range of employers last night was Caroline Waters, director of people and policy at telecommunications giant BT. She was joined briefly by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who assured attendees that he was confident the Equality Bill would go through largely unchanged.
"If I were forced at gunpoint, I would say there will be an election next year, and there will be time to get this bill through [parliament], provided we are not stupid about it and provided our friends in the House of Lords get on with it and don't muck it about," he said.
Phillips is one of a number of business and union representatives asked to provide views on the impact of the Bill's provision to protect people from multiple discrimination.
The Equality Bill contains a proposal to extend the law on direct
discrimination to include discrimination by association and perception
to disability, sex, gender reassignment and age. This means carers like
legal secretary Sharon Coleman - who took her firm to court over claims
of harassment and discrimination after asking for time off to care for
her son - will have won the war even before the battle is over.
Legal experts have warned that Coleman's case could spark a sharp rise in discrimination claims if it becomes UK law, which is expected to happen later this year.
Speaking afterwards, Caroline Waters told me that she didn't think employers were worried about the costs of supporting carers in their workforce.
"I don't think it's that employers fear this, I just don't think it's on the radar yet," she said. "We've been working on this since 1998 to prepare ourselves for this, but until recently there hasn't been a great deal of information about carers available for employers. Society is finally coming around to acting on this now."
Legal experts have warned that Coleman's case could spark a sharp rise in discrimination claims if it becomes UK law, which is expected to happen later this year.
Speaking afterwards, Caroline Waters told me that she didn't think employers were worried about the costs of supporting carers in their workforce.
"I don't think it's that employers fear this, I just don't think it's on the radar yet," she said. "We've been working on this since 1998 to prepare ourselves for this, but until recently there hasn't been a great deal of information about carers available for employers. Society is finally coming around to acting on this now."
