Carers

Carers are people of any age who look after a friend or relative who needs support because of a physical or learning disability, mental illness or whose health is impaired by sickness or old age. This includes parent carers of a disabled child and young carers.

Someone who is paid to undertake their caring role is not a carer, although some carers may be in receipt of Invalid Care Allowance or in full time employment.

Carers fall broadly into three categories -

• adult carers - an adult caring for another adult such as a spouse, partner, friend or relative.
• parent carers - an adult who cares for an ill or disabled child.
• young carers - a child or young person who is carrying out significant caring tasks and assuming a level of responsibility for another person which would usually be taken by an adult. This may be a sibling or a parent. See Young Carers page on the left.

The impact of caring responsibilities on people's working lives and on their income cannot be ignored. Many carers give up work or reduce their hours of work to care and others in paid work report an impact of their own physical and emotional health as a result of juggling a paid job with caring.

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Page updated: 18 Nov 2008