Breaking Point

The social care burden on women
March 2019

Breaking Point The social care burden on women

Introduction

International Women’s Day 2019 marks two years since the Social
Care Green Paper was announced. Over this period, commitments
have repeatedly been made by the Government to put social care on asustainable financial footing. The Green Paper has been promised anddelayed five times and the wait goes on. Meanwhile, our social caresystem continues to leave many to struggle without the high quality,
reliable care they need.
As the State has retreated and failed to fulfil its social care duties it iswomen who have often paid the price. For example, currently 88,391
sandwich carers, 84% of whom are women, are providing 35+ hours aweek of care with little support. Of these, 49% are juggling paid work too.
Of course, everyone’s situation is slightly different but this report shines
a light on what is happening to many women across the country today.
It does so through telling the stories of four particular women who have
had to make difficult decisions about working and caring for loved ones,
putting their own lives and interests on hold.

Breaking Point The social care burden on women

The national picture

Each day many women are going above and beyond to care for loved
ones because the social care support just simply isn’t there for them.
This is no small problem and the impact on women who are sandwichcarers is especially severe1:

 here are 1.25 million sandwich carers in the UK. These are people caring
Tfor an older relative as well as bringing up a family. 68% (850,743) arewomen.
l Sandwich carers’ ages range from 20s to 60s, but those aged 35-44 are
the most likely to be carers with 35% being in this age group.
l 73% of sandwich carers provide under 10 hours of caring a week but 7%
provide over 35 hours per week – that’s 88,391 sandwich carers doingover 35 hours each week.
l The oldest sandwich carers (55-64) provide the longest hours with 29%of them providing over 20 hours of caring a week.
l In total 78% of sandwich carers are in paid work and 49% of those carers
providing over 35 hours are still in paid work.
l

We know the care system is underfunded and unable to cope – 1.4
million older people have unmet care needs. Despite the efforts of many
committed front line care staff care quality is patchy because there aren’t
enough of them. Imagine trying to navigate providing care for an older
relative while bringing up a family and possibly working too. That’s a lot to
ask of anyone and really it is miraculous that more don’t reach breaking
point as a result.

1 This analysis is based on Understanding Society, wave 8 (2016-18), a nationally representative sample ofpeople living in around 40,000 households in the UK, and restricted to those aged 16 years and older.

2www.ageuk.org.uk

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Breaking Point The social care burden on women

Sarah’s story

Sarah spends her life juggling caring for her children,
mother and studying to advance her career.
Sarah is a carer for her mum, Jean. Jean had a fall a few years ago whenliving on her own, breaking her hip. After being discharged from hospital,
Jean moved to live with Sarah who became her 24/7 carer.
Sarah was studying to be a nurse at the same time as having a dual
caring responsibility for her children and mother.
Sadly, due to the pressures of caring for her family Sarah has had
to put her studies on hold as she simply cannot manage it all.
She feels more support is needed for people in her situation tokeep on caring for their loved one, with respite breaks crucial inenabling them to go on.

Breaking Point The social care burden on women“It’s hard work, it’s
exhausting, I don’t
think there’s a daygone by in the last
three years whereI’ve not sat there
and cried myeyes out.”

Juggling her caring responsibilities whilst raising two children
and trying to study with no support has left Sarah near to
breaking point.

4www.ageuk.org.uk

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Breaking Point The social care burden on women

Rasila’s story

Rasila has been a carer for over 40 years and this has
had a huge emotional and physical impact on her life.
Rasila is a 67 year-old woman who lives in London and has been a carer
for various members of her family for over 40 years. She was first a carer
for her two parents, and more recently for her younger sister who hasadvanced Alzheimer’s. Her sister’s condition means she needs individualcare 24 hours a day.

Breaking Point The social care burden on women“I had to choose
between my family
and my career.”

Rasila picked up most of the caring responsibilities but it was never her
intention to be a fulltime carer. It has flipped her life upside down, shefeels socially cut off and without a life of her own.
Rasila had to take early retirement in 2013, giving up her career to ensure
she could care for her sister properly. She had worked hard to climb theladder and been successful. But then had to decide between career orfamily. Like many, she put her family first.
Navigating the care system has been one of the biggest challenges,
as she struggled to arrange care for her sister and find out about
their rights and entitlements. It took 7 months to see a social
worker and when she asked for respite support she didn’t get it.
She does everything for her sister, from arranging
appointments, making phone calls and getting hermedication. She puts herself at the bottom of the list –sometimes forgetting to eat and drink, forgetting to smile.
She loved window shopping and going to the library
but now that is impossible. Rasila feels she has lost herown identity.
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Breaking Point The social care burden on women

Breaking Point The social care burden on women

Joyce’s story

Joyce is 73 and has been married to David for over 50 years. Four
years ago, their lives were turned upside down when David suddenly
suffered a stroke and extensive brain damage as a result.
At first, David received homecare four times a day; he was unable to eat
solid food, was incontinent and spent most of the day in bed. However,dismayed at the lack of quality in the care that David was receiving – forexample, David was not being properly washed – Joyce stopped paid carestaff coming to their home 18 months ago. Ever since then Joyce has
been David’s 24/7 carer.
Joyce has fought tooth and nail to get David into a day centre two daysa week. She has been allocated 56 days respite care a year; however,the care home that looked after David during these breaks is no longer
available due to being cut as a local council provider.
Joyce is no longer sure how she is going to be able to go on looking afterDavid. The last thing she wants is for David to have to live permanently ina care home, but she cannot see how she can go on any more without
more support and regular respite breaks.

“I can’t look after
my husband at homeanymore.”8www.ageuk.org.uk

www.ageuk.org.uk9Breaking Point The social care burden on womenBreaking Point The social care burden on women

Elaine’s story

Elaine, who is 68, looks after her husband Michael who is 74.
Elaine cares for Michael 24/7 since he suffered a brain injury
which has significantly affected his ability to function – hisspeech and mobility have been affected and he is unable
to interact fully with people. He also suffers from multiple
health issues, including diabetes.
Elaine had to give up her job to care for Michael and has been his fulltime carer ever since. She has been supported from time to time bypaid care staff, (mainly respite care) but based on her experience todate she doesn’t believe that they can give him the level ofcare he needs.

“My life ison hold.”

She is angry about how the system is letting them down.
Finances are tight and there is no knowing how long
this situation may go on for.
This isn’t the life Elaine chose or would
have wanted for herself or for Michael
and the lack of support has madethings much harder. The healthand care staff she sees andwho she talks to about theirsituation come once anddon’t return so she feels
the help she and Michaelneed just isn’t there.

10www.ageuk.org.uk

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It’s time theGovernment delivered
The failings of the care system mean that women in particular areoften left to pick up the pieces. Many are doing their best to provide
care for their family but often at great personal cost. For those who arecaring for older and younger members at the same time the pressure
can be especially intense.
Some are at breaking point and many more at risk of it. They want andneed to look after their loved ones, most wouldn’t change that for theworld, but they shouldn’t have to do it alone and unsupported as ishappening far too often today.
For too long now we’ve heard a constant stream of promises fromMinisters that the Green Paper will provide the answers to all the caresystem’s problems – but the Green Paper never comes. It is crucial that
this Government meets its promises and delivers improvements to asystem under so much stress.
How much longer can women carry the burden of our crumblingsocial care system? The delays and false promises need to end.

Contact usFor more information, to meet with us or take one of
our actions please• email campaigns@ageuk.org.uk• or visit www.ageuk.org.uk/carecrisis
Age UK includes the charity, its charitable and trading subsidiaries, and national charities (Age Cymru, Age Scotland andAge NI). Age UK is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (registered charity no. 1128267
and registered company no. 6825798). The registered address is Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA.