Who is a carer?

Becoming a carer is likely to happen to almost everyone at some stage of their life. The Work and Families Act 2006 defines a carer as someone who cares for:

• their husband, wife, partner or civil partner
• a near relative – this includes parents, parents-in-law, adult children, adopted adult children, siblings, brothers and sisters in-law, uncles, aunts, grandparents and step-relatives
• someone who lives at the same address as the carer.

People who care for an elderly neighbour, for example, fall outside the remit of the act, although evidence shows that most employers are open to requests from those not eligible under the law.

The 2001 census revealed some interesting statistics about working carers:

• The vast majority of carers (80% or 8 in every 10 carers) are of working age.
• As many as 3 million carers already combine work and care.
• Carers make up over 12% (12 in 100) of the UK workforce.
• Every year, more than 2 million people become carers – so there are many new carers in the workforce every day.
• over 3 in 5 people (60%) will become carers at some point in their lives.