Britain’s shadow workforce is paid as little as 65p an hour. Who cares for the carers? |
Imagine your house is on fire, and when you dial 999 the call handler suggests you try putting the blaze out yourself. Resources are tight, you see, and demand high, and the service increasingly relies on volunteers. Or perhaps your child’s maths teacher is off sick. The headteacher texts and asks if you can leave work to explain algebra to the class. It’s your family, after all, so shouldn’t you be the one to help?
The idea is ludicrous of course. And yet that’s exactly what is happening to the almost 6 million people in the UK who are unpaid carers for sick, disabled and older relatives. While we rightly wince at headlines of DIY dentistry and patients on NHS waiting lists crowdfunding for surgery, it has long been normalised for family to fill the gaping holes in the social care system.
That’s only increasing. As need has grown and reform and resources have stalled, 1.9 million people in England alone provided a “full-time” (defined as 35 hours or more) week of care in 2023-24 – that’s 70% more than 20 years ago. Others have to fit caring responsibilities around their jobs: dropping off the kids at school, going to the office and then helping their elderly parents bathe and eat.
Let’s call them the nation’s ghost workforce: a growing army of unpaid cooks, nurses, cleaners and physios who slog away day and night, out of sight behind their front doors.
Nessa will be 60 this year, but, as one of the UK’s ghost workforce, instead of planning her retirement, she’s worrying who will care for her son. Jai, 36, has autism and multiple physical disabilities that mean he’s largely bedbound and lives in daily pain. Since Jai’s care package was........