Supporting young carers in the

workforce: a case for change

Presenter: Freya Saich

Authors: Freya Saich and Carolina Simpson

The peak non-government organisation for people in New South Wales

(NSW) who provide informal care and support to a family member or friend

who has a disability, mental illness, drug or alcohol dependency, chronic

condition, terminal illness or who is frail.

Our vision is an Australia that values and supports all carers. Our goals are

to:

• Work with carers to improve their health, wellbeing, resilience and

financial security

• Have caring recognised as a shared responsibility of family, community

and government

About

Carers NSW

Vision

Overview

•Context

•Demographics

•Carers NSW 2016 Carer Survey

•Typical respondent

Young carers

•Hours of care

•Care tasks

• Independence of the care recipient

• Informal supports

•Use of formal services

The caring role•Hours of work

•Flexible working

•Work/life balance

Working Conditions

• A carer is anyone who provides care and support to a family member or

friend with a disability, mental illness, drug or alcohol dependency,

chronic condition, terminal illness or is frail.

• A primary carer is the person who provides the most care to someone.

• A young carer is anyone who has a caring role and is under the age of

25, including children and teenagers.

Definitions

Context

• There are over 270,000 young carers in Australia*

• This is an underestimate as many young carers are ‘hidden’, i.e. don’t

identify as a carer, or are not recognised as such.

Young carers

Young primary carers

• There are over 20,000 young primary carers in Australia (15-24 only)*

• Young primary carers predominantly care for a parent, but sometimes

their own child or partner*

• Approximately 40% of young primary carers provide over 20 hours of

care each week*

• Carers NSW estimates that in one year alone young primary carers

would save the government $750 million in replacement care costs.**

Demographics

*Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016)

** Carers NSW estimates based on Deloitte Access Economics (2015)

• Higher rates of absenteeism, difficulties completing homework.*

• Less likely to finish year 12 and have a post-secondary education.*

Educational Attainment

Workforce Participation

• Lower workforce participation.**

• More likely be out of the labour force – combination of lower educational

attainment and ongoing caring responsibilities.

• Require support to participate in education and employment, and flexibility

to balance work/study and care.

Demographics

*Hill et al. (2011)

**Cass et al. (2011); Bray (2012)

• Approximately 2,000 respondents to the survey

• 41 young carers (aged 16-25) responded to the survey

• The majority (82%) of employed young carers were working on a casual

or part time basis.

Respondents

Carers NSW 2016 Carer Survey

1958

22

19

41

respondents young carers

employed unemployed

Carers NSW 2016 Carer Survey

Typical young carer respondent

Employed young carer

Tertiary educated

Worked casually in a job lower than their skillset for 20hrs/week

Cared for 20 hrs/week

Care recipient did not access formal services

Unemployed young carer

Not tertiary educated

Receiving an income support payment

Cared for more than 70 hrs/week

Care recipient accessed formal services but this did not reduce

their caring role

Hours of care

Aspects of the caring role

Care tasks

Aspects of the caring role

Care tasks required from carers People with disability requiring such care (%)

Communication 90.2

Reading/writing 89.9

Meal preparation 89.9

Mobility 89.3

Transport 86.6

Coping with emotions 84.2

Self-care 80

Household chores 76.1

Property maintenance 70.1

Healthcare 52.4

*Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017)

Independence of the person being cared for

Aspects of the caring role

Not at all < 1 hour Few hours 1 day Few days Morethan few

days

Employed 31.80% 4.50% 27.30% 4.50% 9.10% 22.70%

Unemployed 26.30% 10.50% 36.80% 5.30% 15.80% 5.30%

• People who started caring at a young age and cared for many years

generally had less support from family and friends than other carers.

• Only half of young carers said that there was someone else available to help

them care.

• This is unsurprising given the isolation young carers often experience due to

the demands of their caring role.

Informal support networks

Aspects of the caring role

• Formal services may result in a reduction of caring responsibilities

• However, only half (51%) of the young carer respondents reported that

the person they cared for received formal services.

Use of formal services

Aspects of the caring role

41%

59%58%

41%

Uses formal services Does not use formal service

Employed carers Unemployed carers

Nearly half (45%) of those who accessed formal services said that they

did not reduce their caring role at all.

Impact of formal services on caring role

Aspects of the caring role

44%

22%

22%

11%

46%

36%

18%

Not at all

A little

Moderate amount

A lot

Unemployed carers Employed carers

Comments about formal services

Aspects of the caring role

Not enough care hours for the person receiving the care. Provides too much stress and strain on the carer, especially a young carer.

There are no current services available to provide support or respite to my dad in times of crisis other than hospital…I work part time and study part time at university and as such have no time to go through another application for him.

My brother went to a respite home… it was horrible, they didn’t provide any services, would let him wander everywhere at anytime by himself and made him pay for his own food and at one point they just kicked him out...

Impact on work

Working conditions

Flexible working arrangements

Working conditions

5%

0% 0%

18%

36%

23%

27%

46%

18%

23%

46%

18%

14%

32%

14%

5%

23%

18%

5%

9%

Flexible start/finish times Able to leave at shortnotice

Taking time in lieu Working from home

Not available and wouldn’t use Not available but would use Don’t know if available

Available but not used Available and used

Flexible working arrangements

Working conditions

18%

32%

9%9%

14%

18%

36%

32% 32%

14%

9%

32%

18%

9%

5%

Reduced working hours Job sharing Employer supports

Not available and wouldn’t use Not available but would use Don’t know if available

Available but not used Available and used

Carer’s leave

Working conditions

Not available and wouldn’t use

9%

Not available but would use

19%

Don’t know if available

48%

Available but not used19%

Available and used5%

Employer knows about caring role

Working conditions

Employer knows about

caring role46%Employer does

not know about caring role

54%

Satisfaction with work/life balance

Working conditions

24%

14%

43%

14%

5%

Strongly disagree Disagree Neither Agree Strongly agree

Considered quitting

Working conditions

27%

23%27%

14%

5%5%

Never

Rarely

Occasionally

Fairly often

Very often

Extremely often

I love my job so much, I'm really

lucky to have such a great job at

my age. It's honestly so much fun

and so rewarding, even if it is

tiring.

Young Carers’ Comments

Working conditions

They were great initially until I

became unwell myself &

needed time off. Now they see

me as a constant pain.

Unsure of whether to disclose caring role

as it's such a heavy thing on someone's

shoulders to know…

Carers NSW recommends that governments:

Recommendations

Encourage employers to invest in flexible working

arrangements

Ensure adequate formal care services, including respite

services, are available

Fund programs to enhance young carers’ social

networks

Assess young carers’ support needs when planning for the

individualised funding packages

Fund more tailored supports for young carers who are employed,

or seeking employment

Remove disincentives to undertake paid work whilst receiving the Carer Payment

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• Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016) Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of findings,

2015, Carer tables, Canberra.

• Bray, R. (2012), Young carers in receipt of Carer Payment and Carer Allowance 2001 to 2006:

• characteristics, experiences and post-care outcomes, Occasional Paper No. 47, Social Policy

Evaluation, Analysis and Research Centre, Australian National University.

• Cass, B., Brennan, D., Thomson, C., Hill, T., Purcal, C., Hamilton, M., and Adamson, E. (2011),

Young carers: Social policy impacts of the caring responsibilities of children and young adults, Report

prepared for ARC Linkage Partners

• Deloitte Access Economics (2015), The economic value of informal care in Australia in 2015, Carers

Australia, Canberra.

• Hill, T., Thomson, C. and Cass, B. (2011), ‘Young Carers: Location, Education and Employment

Disadvantage’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, vol. 14, issue 2, pp. 173-198.

To read the full report:

Carers NSW (2017) Young Carers: Barriers to accessing employment , Carers NSW, North Sydney,

available online at:

https://www.carersnsw.org.au/Assets/Files/Young%20Carers_Barriers%20to%20Accessing%20Employ

ment.pdf

References

www.carersnsw.org.au

Freya Saich | Policy and Development Officer

freyas@carersnsw.org.au

(02) 9280 4744