Carers UK
The UK's leading charity for carers
We believe that unpaid carers, who perform vital work often at great personal cost, should not suffer poorer retirement outcomes.
We're a nation of carers. Workers; both male and female, old and young, are filling the gaps created by a lack of social
care support. They're paying the price, in the form of lower income throughout working life and less later life
financial security.
We're calling for the government to review the adequacy of the State Pension and other benefits provision for unpaid
carers, in light of the impact on their private pension, through taking time out of work.
The probability of becoming a carer
An estimated two in three of us will have to take time out of work to care for someone at some point in our working lives. The odds are the same for men as for women, although women are more likely to provide unpaid care for children. We've identified five 'key care moments' in a person's life. Besides caring for children, the majority of these moments are likely to occur in someone's late 50s and early 60s. Young workers can also have to put care before work.
The Carer’s Pension Gap
People who take time out of work to care for a loved one miss out on building pension contributions. Someone who takes time out of paid work for all five key care moments could expect to have a pension pot around £30,000 lower than someone who didn't take any time out of work to care.
The difference a year makes
For every year missed of paid work, the loss to a pension pot's an estimated £5,000, on average. For every year that
someone goes part-time instead of full-time, the average loss to a pension pot's an estimated £2,000.
The likely living standard of someone who has had to take time out of work at the five key care moments we identified is
minimum, according to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association Retirement Living Standards.
Read the Carer's Pension Gap report.
Published: 23-06-2023
