Why Flexible Working Policies and Better Paid Leave Won't Solve your Care Problem

If you run a large organisation, you'll know a lot of your employees are already significantly involved in providing support for family members. 

However, when a new government policy regarding this situation is timetabled, it's easy to panic.

In July 2026, the government published its Unpaid Carers Action Plan, "Recognise, Refer, Reach," setting out what employers should be doing to support staff who care for family members. We covered what the plan means for employers in detail here.

Most employers don't actually know how many of their employees are already significantly involved in caring for a family member. It's a bigger number than most realise.

So when a new government policy on this is timetabled, it's easy to panic.

Most businesses don't really know what to do about it, so they reach for the thing that's easiest to change: flexible working policy. A few extra days of paid carer leave get added on top, and it becomes a quick fix, a tickbox item, because most organisations aren't aware of the nuance of the problem, or what else they could do to fix it.

It's a reasonable-sounding response. 

But it is also, in most cases, the wrong one.

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The state of care in the UK right now

1 in 5 people in the UK are adult carers - which amounts to 10.6 million people. 

7.7 million are also trying to hold down a job, many putting in more than 33 hours a week on caring on top of their working hours. 

That’s because the fastest-growing population within the workforce is over-40s - the exact age bracket where caring responsibilities for parents typically start to peak, just as these leaders  are getting into their stride.

Legislation is arriving now beacuse of the scale of this, not because it's good PR, or a passing trend.

What this actually looks like inside your business

The impact goes well beyond scheduling. 

83% of carers still at work report living with depression, and 10% eventually burn out and resign.

Those who stay are, on average, 50% less productive. Caring reduces presenteeism by 25%. And women are four times more likely than men to quit because of caring pressures.

88% of carers have considered reducing their hours as a result, and 64% have thought about switching to a more flexible employer. 

That looks like a case for more flexibility — but it really shows how many people are already leaning on flexibility to cope, whilst still really struggling.

The problem you don't see

Most businesses aren't connecting the dots. 

Many carers who work for you don't identify as carers, so the problem doesn't get flagged early. It usually only surfaces when a high performer becomes unreliable, or a manager stops putting themselves forward for the next step up.

None of this gets coded as a care issue. It gets recorded as a performance issue, an individual mental health problem, or a burnout issue instead. The real cause goes unaddressed.

Flexibility is essential, but it doesn't solve the core problem

Most businesses reach for the easiest, cheapest fix: extend flexible working, add some paid carer leave, meet the regulatory minimum. It's fast to implement and avoids a difficult conversation about budget.

But it doesn't solve the underlying problem, and it may not keep you compliant with what's coming. Flexibility helps someone leave early for a hospital appointment. It doesn't touch the bigger issues underneath:

• 63% of carers are extremely worried about managing their monthly costs
• 34% have already cut back on essentials like food or heating
• 60% have reduced time with family and friends to save money

That's because taking on care for a parent or loved one means navigating a genuinely costly process, on top of a full-time job:

• Finding out whether the parent qualifies for a local authority needs assessment, and how to get one
• Checking whether savings and property put the family over the capital threshold in England, and what that means for the family home
• Finding out whether the parent is eligible for Attendance Allowance, which isn't means-tested
• Researching care home availability and cost (self-funded residential care averages around £1,298 a week, and nursing care around £1,535 a week, both rising substantially every year)

Care is individual, and it's complex

Flexibility matters, we're not arguing against it. But without practical support alongside it, the same cycle repeats just with a bit more breathing room.

Most employees in this position end up building a funding system for their loved one largely on their own. The gap there isn't time, it's expertise.

An employee spending every evening trying to fund a specialist care home for a parent doesn't need a few more hours to do that research. They need financial education about what they're eligible for. A third of people eligible for financial support never apply for it, simply because they don't know it exists.

They also need someone with the right expertise to advocate for them with the local authority or care provider. This can be a tiresome process, especially when a loved one is involved.

This matters not only for staying in work,  but for their own health: 82% of carers working more than 50 hours a week are living with a physical health impact of their own. 

What real support looks like

At an employer level, this means moving beyond policy tweaks and towards active initiatives and partners who can help employees navigate the system:

• Manager training, so caring responsibilities get recognised and coded correctly
• Access to counselling or mental health providers
• Financial education, including which benefits to apply for and in what order
• Advocacy support, so somebody can push the local authority, hospital, or care provider on the employee's behalf
• Legal groundwork, such as support with Power of Attorney
• Crisis capacity after the point of hospital discharge

Done well, this pays off: reduced absenteeism, improved morale, longer retention, and a stronger sense of belonging at work. None of that comes from a blanket, tickbox solution, it starts with investing in individual employees, including those groups most affected but least visible.

When TSB realised that 8% of their workforce were carers, and 65% of those were women, it became the starting point for a tailored approach to support, rather than a one-size-fits-all policy.

Read the full case study: The Caregiver Challenge: How TSB is Partnering with KareHero.

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?’ 

If you're looking to get ahead of the legislation, book a call with our team.

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