More than half of employers fail to tell employees of their rights once they become a cancer carer, a survey has found.
The poll of 442 cancer carers by the charity Reframe Cancer found that the vast majority were unaware of their rights as carers under the Carer’s Leave Act, which came into effect in April last year.
The legislation gives carers who are balancing unpaid care with paid employment the legal right to unpaid carer’s leave. Employees can take up to one week of leave every 12 months, with a ‘week’ representing the length of time they usually work over seven days.
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Yet 60% of the carers surveyed were unaware of the Carer’s Leave Act before they did the survey. More than half (52%) also said their employer had not told them about their rights under the Act once they had become a carer.
Alarmingly, a similar percentage (52%) said that either no reasonable adjustments had been made to their workplace role or they were unsure whether any had. A third (33%) said changes had been made.
More than seven in ten of the carers (77%) said that being a carer had affected their work. While more than a third (38%) said their employer had been “very” supportive when they told them about their additional role and responsibilities, (34%) said they had only been “somewhat” supportive.
Worryingly, as many as 15% were “indifferent” and 7% were “not supportive at all”, the survey concluded. Only half of respondents (52%) said they had received specific help and support from their HR team during their time as a carer.
The survey also highlighted just how much of a burden juggling caring commitments with work can be. On average, the carers who took part in the survey had been working and simultaneously caring for a loved one with cancer for at least a year.
They were spending an average of 16 hours per week providing care as well as working in full and part-time employment. This equated to just over 69 hours a month of care given by carers while they continued to work at the same time, said Reframe Cancer.
The care provided was often far-reaching and encompassed daily practical, physical, medical and emotional support.
This could include travelling to and co-ordinating medical appointments and cancer treatment sessions, administering medicines and collecting prescriptions, as well as helping with daily living tasks, such as cleaning, bathing and feeding as well as housework and help with paying bills.
Over the course of a month, the average time carers took off work to undertake caring responsibilities was 3.5 days that employers were aware of and informed about.
Additionally, the carers surveyed said they took a further three days using other leave, such as sick pay or holiday allowance.
Combined, this meant cancer carers were taking 6.5 days a month off work to support a loved one with cancer before any time taken off for their own needs or sickness, for example. Reframe Cancer estimated this could therefore be costing employers as much as £8.5bn a year in missed hours.
Drilling down, the survey asked the carers about the amount of time they had taken off work at different stages of the cancer ‘journey’.
The most time was taken off during treatment (eight days), the poll concluded. An average of seven days were taken off before diagnosis, and the same again following diagnosis, with 7.5 days taken off post-treatment.
Cancer caring also brought with it additional monthly costs, with carers saying they spent £401 a month on average on extra monthly expenses, such as parking, transport and medical expenses. This increased to £464 a month for men, while women spent an average of £339.
Mark Stephenson, Reframe Cancer CEO, said: “The findings show the real depth of the daily demands working adults are dealing with when also providing care for a loved one with cancer.
Unfortunately, it also shows that there is still a real stigma around the issue of being a carer in the workplace, resulting in employees taking time off that they don’t feel they can declare is for caring purposes.”
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