A final conference of an EU funded project, Negotiating Improvements for Working Carers of Adults (NICA) was held in Brussels on 22nd and 23rd October, attended by delegates from employee organisations across Europe including the UK, Belgium, Malta, Bulgaria and Poland with the support of carers organisations, Carers UK and Euro Carers. The NICA project was designed by TAEN (The Experts in Age and Employment) and the GFTU (General Federation of Trade Unions) Educational Trust working in partnership.

 

Both the project and the conference were designed to gather information, raise awareness and deliver training support for union and employer negotiators on the needs of working carers in their own countries. The project was submitted to the EU following research on the growing numbers of people providing informal (or part-time) care for a family member in their own home, or that of the disabled person, whilst maintaining their own career or job.

 

The needs of working carers have been addressed in numerous initiatives in the past two decades, but almost exclusively in relation to parenthood and children. The increase in life expectancy throughout Europe together with the expectation that people will remain working and earning longer, provides new and challenging tensions. Addressing them was the rationale of the NICA project. The needs of people providing informal care (for example for elderly relatives or children with long term care needs) are quite different from those of parents of young children.

 

Older carers may, for example, have short term and changing needs depending on the medical conditions of those they care for. Frequently, they balance an element of direct care provision with supervision of other paid carers or assistants.

 

Things can go wrong however, or the condition of the person cared for may have a worsening trajectory over a number of years. The time needed for administration or visits to medical professionals can add further stress on the lives of carers, struggling with their own responsible jobs at work. Furthermore, the needs of older working carers must be understood in the context of demographic trends, coupled with policy changes in the delivery of community care for older and/or disabled people. All these factors mean the employment conditions and management of informal working carers need to be considered distinctively.

 

Many people provide care, though they may not think of themselves as “carers” as such. However, the move away from giving care in expensive and often isolating care institutions has supported the growth of an army of informal care givers, often providing essential support to someone in society. They work in all industries and at every level, from management and administration to the sharp operational end of organisations. Most carers are women though 40 per cent of carers who continue working are men. (Crucially, being a carer is a significant cause for retiring early and for women becoming “economically inactive” earlier than men.)

 

Judith Jackson, Head of Education in the General Federation of Trade Unions Educational Trust  said: “We aim to create working conditions more sympathetic to the needs of working carers; conditions which support them in their caring and help them do their own jobs better. We want to help people maintain their incomes and continue doing jobs they need or enjoy, without being forced to leave simply because they become carers, and we want management to recognise the additional strengths and skills which people often gain by being a working carer and the value they bring to organisations.”

 

The project’s outputs include a research report by Sheila Barrett of the University of Greenwich, and two courses (two-day and one-day versions) designed by Ian Manborde of Ruskin College, Oxford. Katherine Wilson from Employers for Carers at Carers UK contributed specialist expertise along with other speakers in a series of round tables in Malta, Bulgaria and the UK.

 

Interesting ideas include “carers’ passports” adopted by some larger employers, variations of tele-working, emergency cover arrangements, ways in which carers needs could be protected (including their health and well being) and arguments to use in explaining or justifying the adoption of special arrangements or rights for working carers, both to other employees and managers at all levels in organisations.

 

The GFTU now plans to establish an action group on working carers. For more information contact Judith@gftu.org.uk