How KareHero Helps Employers Prepare for the Unpaid Carers Action Plan

By Spring 2027, organisations with 250+ staff will be expected to show how they're supporting the carers in their workforce, a direct requirement of the government's Unpaid Carers Action Plan.

We've already covered what the Unpaid Carers Action Plan means for employers and the key dates to know. In short, it comes down to a few practical steps before the deadline lands:

• Understand how many carers you actually have, since many don't self-identify
• Check your carers' leave policies work in practice, not just on paper
• Train managers to spot and support carers
• Rehearse your process now, so gaps don't turn into penalties later
• Consider a care passport, so employees don't have to keep re-explaining their situation
• Make sure carers know what they're entitled to, like the Carer's Allowance

Most organisations already know what to do. The harder part is actually reaching your workforce, and providing support that goes beyond a leave policy.

What KareHero does for working carers

KareHero pairs employees with a real Care Advocate who helps them understand, find and fund the right care for a partner, parent, sibling, adult child, friend, or themselves.

We handle the parts that take the most time and cause the most stress: navigating care assessments, sourcing the right care, applying for funding, and sorting out the legal and admin side, like Power of Attorney.

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For a stretched employee, that can be life changing.

One employee, for example, was caring for a family member unable to work due to health conditions, while also coordinating care remotely for an elderly relative with a progressive diagnosis.

Within 4 weeks, KareHero identified and applied for over £45,000 a year in combined benefits that the family had never claimed. KareHero also explained Power of Attorney options and supported the application; mapped and submitted a full Local Authority funding pathway the same day; and flagged future options, like Access to Work grants, for if circumstances worsened.

For employers, that's the difference between a policy on paper, and a concrete answer to what you're actually doing for carers, backed by real usage data and real outcomes.

Across our partner organisations, we've unlocked over £16.2 million in funding a year for carers, and supported more than 1 million families through their care journey.

What that actually looked like for one of our employers, in concrete ROI

One mid-market client (~4,500 employees) came to KareHero with a specific gap: 1 in 5 adult working carers weren't getting the support they needed.

Absence and carer's leave requests were rising, along with the management time spent supporting them. Paid leave and flexible working were already in place, but that policy alone wasn't easing the pressure.

HR and the carer's network identified the missing piece: practical, hands-on support, directly to employees.

After exploring several options, the client chose KareHero. Employees got a dedicated Care Advocate, and we crafted personalised action plans for their care scenarios, from emergency hospital discharges, to funding sourcing, to finding the physical care itself. We also provided ongoing support that reduced stress and mental load, helping many employees previously on leave to return to work.

Within the first 12 months:

• Care-related absence fell by 33%, an estimated £140,123 in cost savings
• Productivity across the carer cohort rose by 23.3%, an estimated £519,231 in cost savings
• 20% of at-risk carers were retained, saving £62,588 in retention and hiring costs
• Carers saved an average of 150 hours each
• We unlocked between £3.9k and £70k in care funding per employee, an average of £27,000 per case

Total savings realised: £721,942 a year, from just 6.4% uptake. That's a 1,236.93% return on investment.

The outcomes lined up with what the Unpaid Carers Action Plan is asking employers to work towards. Previously hidden carers were identified and supported. Employees were connected to practical and financial resources. And stronger workforce insight fed back into retention, productivity and employee experience.

How we supported TSB's carers

TSB's workforce was made up of 65% women, and employee tenure was longer than average. As  a high percentage of employees are over the age of 40.

This made the business case straightforward: 60% of carers are women, and the 46–57 bracket is the sandwich generation. They're more likely to be looking after adult dependents than children, and 4 times more likely to have caregiving responsibilities.

Whilst TSB had introduced 2 weeks' paid carers leave in 2020, many employees were slow to take it up. It's widely misunderstood what qualifies someone as a carer, so the policy alone didn't have high uptake, and those who did take it were still struggling, with no access to practical, hands-on support for anyone caring for a loved one over 18, not just elder care.

"We know that people have had to put their career on hold as a result of needing to care for loved ones... which is why providing support for carers is so important." 

Will Rayden, Director of Reward and Performance at TSB

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Since partnering with KareHero:

• Employees have accessed £3.9k to £70k in care funding each through KareHero's funding experts
• £1.86 million in funding and benefits has been identified for TSB employees so far
• Employees have completed a full care assessment within 2 weeks, addressing carer strain before it became burnout
• TSB has avoided an estimated £15,288,000 in recruitment costs
• Families have saved 76,440 hours of research and admin in their care journey
• TSB has reduced employee sick leave by an average of 3 days

TSB's first-year impact:  £1.86m in funding identified £15.29m in recruitment costs avoided 76,440 hours saved by families 3 fewer sick days per employee, on average

"It's a lifeline for our carers and their families. TSB carers have described our support as the fourth emergency service." 

Angela Gibson at TSB

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Prepare for the Unpaid Carers Action Plan before Spring 2027

Meeting the new statutory requirements before 2027 may be challenging if you run a large organisation.

The first step is understanding where you are currently. Our quiz can show you where you stand against other employers, and where the biggest gaps are worth closing first.

Specialist support is the next step, and KareHero is already set up to help.

We offer practical 1-2-1 support for the carers in your organisation, focusing on the tasks that are hardest and most time-consuming to navigate alone: specialist legal guidance, sourcing the right care, and helping to identify and apply for the funding they're eligible for.

For your HR team, that turns a difficult problem into a straightforward one. Employees get tailored help at the point of crisis, and you've got an evidenced action plan in line with the proposed legislation, no improvisation, and no rushed, tickbox solution.

Want the full picture on TSB? Read the TSB's caregiver challenge case study

For the wider policy picture, see what Andy Burnham's social care reform means for employers, and how to prepare.

If you’re still understanding how your existing benefits and policies help carers - and how you stack up up against your peers - take our 5-minute quiz, ‘Are you prepared for the government's upcoming changes?’ 

Or if you’re ready for a conversation about how KareHero can work with your company, book a 15-minute call with our team to see how we can help you prepare.