Busy Bees, along with Sodexho, Accor and Grass Roots, have joined forces with Counsel and Care to campaign for tax breaks for people with caring responsibilities.

Why introduce Care Vouchers?

Due to an ageing population, more and more people in the UK are struggling to juggle work and care responsibilities for older relatives. By offering tax breaks for workers with care responsibilities, by the way of Care Vouchers, these people could pay for extra care and support while still enjoying a career.

Employers who choose to offer Care Vouchers to their workforce will also benefit – they would be able to achieve National Insurance savings for each individual who requests Vouchers, as well as increase motivation levels and improve the retention of staff.

The facts:

• Three million people in the UK juggle work with caring for an older or disabled person.
• Older people are the fastest growing section of the population - in 30 years, more than 25 per cent of the population will be over 65, which is an increase of 70 per cent from the current level.
• More than one-in-five of people aged 50-59 provide some unpaid care.
• Almost 80 per cent of local authorities are only providing services to those adults with the very highest levels of need.
• Carers often suffer from poor health themselves.
• Caring is often a cause of early retirement - 24 per cent of retired men aged 45-59 and 28 per cent of retired women of this age, are carers. Many will have given up their jobs prematurely to accommodate their caring role.
• The UK’s economy already has a severe skills shortage. With employees now expected to work until later in life, employers and government must find ways to support their ageing workforce to balance work with care.